Played at the Plate: Songs represent a different personality for softball players on the diamond


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While Miley Cyrus hops off the plane at LAX airport, CMU softball freshman Summer Knoop warms up.

As Knoop walks up to the plate, Cyrus can see the Hollywood sign.

Everyone seems so famous.

Maybe the pitcher is wondering when she will get a break in the lineup as everyone seems to be able to hit. And if the Jay-Z song is on, everyone knows Knoop is ready to bat.

Throw your hands up in the air as the walk-up music fades to the background and Knoop, batting .329 on the season, is ready to hit.

Like all CMU softball players, Knoop got to pick her own walk-up music for each of her at-bats. Her selection is Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the USA.”

“I picked mine because it makes me happy,” she said. “The song is just about relaxing and it puts you in a good mood and when I go to bat, Things get tense so I just like to be chill.”

Knoop remembers when the team found out what song she picked. She said everyone was smiles and laughter, something she needs when she walks into the batter’s box.

And while Knoop wants to relax as she strolls to the plate, she is not the only one.

Michael Jackson

Miley Cyrus not in your iTunes? How about a little bit from the King of Pop?

No need to wait long, center fielder Christina Novak leads off for the Chippewas and is a Michael Jackson fan.

However, it was not a decision that came easy for Novak. She wanted to avoid the hardcore rap, so she asked everyone she could and spent time listening to different songs until finally choosing one.

“The Way You Make Me Feel” was the one Novak decided on, like Knoop, to clear her head.

“I just need to go up there and take a deep breath and clear my head and it just puts me in a good mood,” she said.

And while Novak and Knoop use their walk-up music to relax, others use their musical selections to get pumped up for their next at-bat.

Queen

Novak spent considerable time asking others to recommend the perfect song, but right fielder Kate Greenman had her song, Queen’s “We Will Rock You,” from the start.

“I spent about three minutes on mine because this was my song and no one else was going to take it,” she said.

Left fielder Ashley Gilson, batting .323 for the season five home runs, needed a song to pump her up as well.

Last year, it was 50 Cent’s “Get Up.” This year, however, she had to follow her heart. Gilson decided to go a different direction and pick a song from her favorite music genre -- Jason Aldean’s “She’s Country.”

She said last year’s choice got her excited to bat, but had to follow her heart this year.

“I’ve always been a country fan at heart,” she said. “It just was that one song last year that pumped me up the most.”

And while each player on the team has a different song and different taste, in the end it comes down to one fact.

“It is just a song to put yourself in the moment,” Greenman said.

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