Sometimes it takes your parents to make you realize what’s best for you.

While she didn’t want to accept it at the time, playing softball at North Idaho College has been something that sophomore Desirae Tinoco has learned to love.

And she’s got her father to thank for that.

Tinoco intended to go to San Jose State, but academics forced her to a junior college for the first two years. With plenty of schools in her home state of California interested, it was NIC coach Don Don Williams who finally landed the third baseman from Rio Mesa High in Oxnard, Calif.

“My last high school tournament, my dad (Joe) was down watching and North Idaho College came and scouted me,” Tinoco said. “I wasn’t intending on coming here and it was kind of a last-minute thing.”

Even with a scholarship offer from NIC in hand, Tinoco still was set on staying in her home state.

“I had called to ask her what was going on and she said it wasn’t for me and it was too far from home,” Williams said. “Two days later, her dad called me and asked if she had them (the scholarship papers) and I told him she’d turned me down. He then asked what day she had to be there and I told him Aug. 24 and he said we’ll see you then.”

They arrived, like dad promised.

“He sent her up here with no license and no car,” Williams said. “So she couldn’t drive, couldn’t get a car and they just left her in the dorms.”

“He didn’t want me to run away and come back home,” Tinoco said. “I was like, ‘I don’t want to go to Idaho, I don’t want to go to Idaho’ and then he said if you don’t have a car and you don’t have a license, then you can’t come home.”

“I’m kind of glad her dad did that,” Williams said. “If she would have had a license, she probably would have left because she was freezing. She was dead set on not coming to North idaho, but he really felt like this was a good place for her and I’m just happy he did that.”

Once she arrived in Coeur d’Alene, Tinoco still wasn’t sold on playing at NIC.

“My first thoughts were ‘Oh my God, no,’” Tinoco said. “I wasn’t open-minded about coming here. I thought it was pretty, but I didn’t think it was a fit for me. But I’ve ended up liking it.”

Living in Oxnard, she could walk to the beach anytime and the sun was out almost every day.

“I grew up right by the beach in Ventura County,” Tinoco said. “You could always walk in the sun. I’d gone to Tahoe a few times and touched snow, but never had to live with it.”

Tinoco started all 60 games as a freshman, batting .416 with 49 runs scored and stealing five bases and was named All-Region 18 second team in 2011.

The decision to redshirt Tinoco last year was a tough one for Williams.

“We sat down and talked about her academics and how she could use another year toward her associate degree,” Williams said. “She had the goal of playing Division I when she got here. Selfishly, I told her I want her on the field, but for her, personally, it’s in her best interest to redshirt. She was one of our best hitters and all-region third baseman her freshman year. She talked with her family, and together they decided it was in her best interest also. But it definitely wasn’t easy for her to sit out.”

Struggling academically, Tinoco considered leaving school.

“I thought about it a lot,” Tinoco said. “Softball is something I love to do. Redshirting was hard for me having to sit and watch someone else play my position — it was hard, but I stuck it through. It was part of growing up. I didn’t want to do it, but he (her dad) gave me the push I needed.”

Last April, her father — a member of the Oxnard Police Department for 22 years — was diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer. He passed away on Aug. 28, 2012.

This season, Desirae writes his initials on her left wrist before every game.

“I play for him and that’s my little thing to show that I play for him,” Tinoco said.

Tinoco missed the fall semester and rejoined the team during the winter semester. This year, she’s batting .182 with 11 RBIs.

“It’s been hard,” Tinoco said. “I’ve been struggling a little bit after taking the fall off. It’s been real difficult getting back into the swing of things. It’s been hard trying to make the adjustment getting back into my game, but I had to stick it out.”

“She’s just a competitor,” Williams said. “You just love having Des on the field because she’s got that competitive drive. She’s been through a lot of adversity over the last two years, but she’s grown from it and gotten stronger, and I really admire her for that. I just enjoy having her on the team.”

NIC (14-23, 8-18 SWAC) returns to Scenic West Athletic Conference play today when the Cardinals are scheduled to host Southern Nevada (20-21, 13-17) in a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. at Memorial Field.

“I really like the people here,” Tinoco said. “Everyone is nice and made me feel right at home. I didn’t feel out of place when I started to meet people. Don Don is a great coach and really helped me a lot being from a different state way far from Idaho. It made it feel like home. I wasn’t an outcast when I got here. I got thrown into the group of girls and they accepted me.”

Tinoco’s future plans include returning to California to continue her playing career at an NAIA school and following in her father’s footsteps and going into law enforcement.

“I hope to get back home,” Tinoco said. “Maybe a Christian school. I’m close to God, so that’s kind of the direction to get back. I’m planning on going into criminal justice and becoming a cop, just like my dad. The coaching staff has always been by my side and held it out for me. NIC is about family and it helps that we’re a bunch of religious girls. That’s kind of what I want to have at my next school — a tight family feel and religion-based setting.”