MOSES LAKE — The Mavericks’ Amilia Borchert has committed to St. Cloud State University to join the Huskies softball program, she said. Though the Minnesota-based school is far from home, she has some connections there that will help her transition.  

“I’ve got a lot of family there,” Borchert said. “They also have the major I’m looking for; they have mass communications/sports broadcasting which is what I really want to do.” 

Her interest in this field began developing at a young age, she said.  

“I started filming rodeos when I was about 14,” Borchert said. “I’ve always really enjoyed it, in the past couple of years I filmed more and more rodeos. It’s just been really fun, and I figured I just wanted to keep doing it.”  

While the academic side was enticing, the softball program also made an impact on her, as well. She emphasized how welcoming the team was to her when she visited and how they consistently reached out to her afterward, too.  

“It’s really easy to go talk to them,” she said. “Walking around the campus was great, got to see the weight room, the weight room coach and the graduate assistants. All of it was really fun, they were so welcoming and excited for me to come here.”  

Borchert’s earliest memory of softball was hanging out in the dugout at her dad’s slow pitch softball games that he played around town, she said.  

“I just remember I would yell at him for pretty much anything. Everybody thought it was hilarious and it was so much fun,” she said.  

From there, she would eventually begin participating in rec leagues and travel ball until she reached Moses Lake High School. Bob Richardson, her former coach with the Washington Rage for four years and the Mavericks current pitching coach spoke a lot about the power Borchert brings to the plate.  

“She's strong, she's got a strong lower half, and she knows how to use her legs to throw the ball,” Richardson said. “She's done that for the last four years as she's grown and gotten bigger and stronger, she just has power to all fields, which is rare in someone her age.” 

Once the Rage was moving back down to the 16U level, Borchert moved to the Washington Angels’ travel ball team. Borchert credited Bob Benson, her head coach with the Angels as a key factor as to why she is heading to college.  

“I’ve been playing there since last fall,” she said. “Bob Benson has always been a great recruiting coach for us. His next goal is to get all of us into college sports.” 

Borchert said she drives to Tri-Cities three times a week to make practices, and anytime between then she feels it’s important to keep working on her skills.  

“On the days that I’m not driving down there, I need to make sure I’m in the hitting cages with my dad,” she said. “For me especially, I don’t want to be behind. I don’t want to be the one person on the team that’s not working as hard as everyone else.” 

In her time as a Maverick, Borchert said she learned a lot about the game. Once a terrified freshman, she recalls her time that season as an important learning experience. While she did not get much time at the plate, she had opportunities to step in as a courtesy runner – a common practice where a player comes in for a teammate who just got on base.  

She took that time to watch and observe how the team operated, she said.  

“You get to see how the team reacts, like how they react to mistakes, how they react to good things, accomplishments, so you see that firsthand, but you really just get to see the game speed,” she said.  

Over the last four years, Borchert said her mental game has improved the most.  

“I definitely got better at learning how to deal with discouragement and mistakes and things like that,” she said.  

In time, she learned how to flush a mistake and let it linger throughout a game. Before, if she let something like that linger, it would eventually compound into a bigger issue, she said.  

“Little mistakes definitely don't affect me as much as they once did,” Borchert said. “But if I made a bigger mistake, I physically have to tell myself to flush it. I have to just like kick some dirt and move on.” 

When reflecting on her time as a Maverick, learning the value of stacking wins was something that helped prepare her for the next level, she said.  

“It's not going to be like travel ball, where you're going to move on to the next tournament,” she said. “It's all going to matter in the end, and so I think that is going to help me a lot, because if I was going straight from travel ball, where it's like, ‘Oh, this loss doesn't matter as much,’ it actually does, and so I think that's what's going to help me the most.” 

    The Mavs’ Amilia Borchert drills the ball while at bat against the Wenatchee Panthers earlier this season.
  

    Amilia Borchert works through her pre-batting ritual during a prior game this season with the Moses Lake Mavericks. Borchert said this routine is intentional for clearing her mind when stepping up to bat.
  

    Amilia Borchert eyes the ball after hitting it into the outfield earlier this season for the Moses Lake Mavericks.
  

    After hitting a double, Amilia Borchert looks back to the dugout to celebrate with her teammates.
  

    The Mavericks’ Amilia Borchert trots around second base after hitting a home run earlier this season. She said it’s the best feeling when the dugout clears and greets her at home plate after hitting a homer.