ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON SOFTBALLAMERICA.COM
It's been said that your teammates are considered your sisters in the game of college softball. But for the Speth family, that happens to be true—quite literally. For the first time ever, Jennah, Jaida and Jasmin Speth are all playing on the same team this season at IUPUI in the Horizon League.
After playing at Illinois-Chicago for the previous four years, Jennah decided to stay within the Horizon League and head to graduate school at IUPUI, where her middle sister, Jaida, was already playing and her younger sister, Jasmin, had just committed.
“I wanted to go to a program where I was wanted and where I knew they believed in me,” Jennah said. “I knew what I was getting from the coach. Jaida being here and Jasmin committing here definitely had a large pull on me coming here because of how cool it is that all three of us are (at IUPUI).”
For Jaida, she has had the luxury of playing with both of her sisters at separate times in her career. When Jennah and Jasmin both decided on IUPUI, she knew it was going to be an exciting new journey to take with her family.
“It's very exciting,” Jaida said. “Jasmin is really hard on herself, so I was just happy to see her hard work pay off. When Jennah came for grad school, I was also very excited because she is a really good pitcher and I loved playing behind her in high school.”
The three sisters have already found this opportunity to be beneficial. While all being under the same roof back at home in Wisconsin during the pandemic lockdown, the sisters had no choice but to practice together and feed off of each other's talent.
“(My sisters) push me to become a better player and a better person,” Jennah said. “We all want to be known as ‘the best’ of the Speth sisters. I've definitely developed a lot more skills on not taking what happens outside of practice to practice because we do fight sometimes. We can't take that fight into practice and make everyone else uncomfortable.”
Playing the same positions is how the three sisters have learned from each other over the years and worked their way up to the college level. Along with outfield work, they have become each other’s pitching coaches at home. Whether it's calling pitches, perfecting mechanics or striving to get the perfect rise ball, hard work gets put in at the Speth home.
“Jaida doesn't really pitch anymore, but she'll catch for Jasmin sometimes,” Jennah said. “I'll help Jasmin with her rise ball spins. I think breaking things down for her and showing her the basics helps me keep my mechanics and my spins sharp. If you can't teach it then you don't really know how to do it well enough.”
The Speth parents, Maria and Marty, who constantly have a full calendar, couldn't be more thrilled to only travel to one place this season.
“They were both very excited to get the chance to see all three of us on the field at the same time and not have to split up weekends in order to see us play,” Jaida said.
The goal for this season for the Speths? Just to have fun on the field together and enjoy the game of softball. The sisters are making the most out of their time together.
“With last season getting canceled, it really put things into perspective that softball is not forever,” Jennah said. “I'm taking every game one pitch at a time to really enjoy it.”
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