Leadership, consistency and culture are the driving force behind Rachel Vieira
Senior infielder Rachel Vieira helps the Central Michigan Women's Softball Team turns a double play against Michigan State April 9 at Margo Jonker Stadium.
She started her playing career with tee ball, and she dominated all the boys in the first grade.
After that, she played recreational ball and finally started playing travel ball when she was eight-years old.
Rachel Vieira now plays second base for the Central Michigan softball team and played her final game in Margo Jonker Stadium April 27, going out in style with a 10-8 victory.
Vieira said that while she's enjoying the experience of her senior season, her love for the game inspires her to bring her best self to the field everyday.
"I love this game and I’m not ready to be done with it yet," Vieira said. "I think that shows that I still love it that much to come out and work for my teammates and coaches."
The Clarkson native has played in every game for CMU this season, all of them starts at second base. She has the fourth best batting average at .292 and has a .333 on base percentage.
At second base, she is the anchor of the infield, making the decisions and she has to rule the infield. One of her favorite aspects of playing all four years at that position is that she's been able to grow with her fellow infielders. Many of which are upperclassmen.
"I think growing with my infielders, we have a lot of upperclassmen on the infield now," Vieira said. "It’s been cool to grow with them on defense and get really comfortable back there. Growing into being a leader and leading the defense in different ways on and off the field, so it’s been a growing experience."
Vieira said she understands that her time at CMU will come to a close soon, real soon. But she wants to pass down the idea of great culture that coach Margo Jonker has built in her 39 seasons coaching the Chippewas.
She said players like freshman right-hander Kaitlyn Bean need to buy in to the culture that Jonker has set and that Vieira, and the other seniors, have been trying to pass down.
"We try to do our best to pass it all down because they’re the future of the program," Vieira said. "The freshmen coming in next year have the same thing to get on board with the culture here, it stems from them moving forward so we do the best we can to pass it down and hope that they absorb as much as they can."
The best trait of Vieira, according to Bean and Jonker, is that she is vocal with her infielders. She communicates well in order to set her team up for success.
"Rachel is an amazing player and person," Bean said. "She really brings us altogether with her physical play and her mentality."
Jonker said that her communication awareness is the reason the coach has had great success with the second baseman.
That, and her hands are too sweet. Jonker knew that from a camp that Vieira participated in before joining the Chippewas.
"When we saw her as a camper, we were impressed with her hands." Jonker said. "When she was younger, she was making plays that looked good and now she's just settling in and making plays look routine and consistent."
That consistency is one of Vieira's best traits. She no longer tries to make a fancy play, instead she makes hard plays look easy.
Part of that maturity has stemmed from the culture that Jonker has instilled in her team, and has since the get-go.
"(Jonker) sets the culture of this program and runs a pretty tight ship," Vieira said. "Everyone has bought in, especially the upperclassmen so we've been pulling that down to the underclassmen and keeping that culture alive."
