Allie Thiessen was awarded a First Team All-GNAC selection this month, following a season where she held career-bests on multiple statistical fronts. Thiessen led the Wildcats in batting average at .392  and on-base percentage at .471, both of which are career-bests. 

Thiessen said the motivation for her and her teammates stemmed from the fact that they believed they were better than how others saw them.

“From a team perspective, we were ranked seventh [last in the GNAC]  from the coaches poll at the beginning of the season,” Thiessen said. “We all wanted to prove how much better we were than that. Getting a new coach was a big deal and we wanted to prove to him that we were capable of it.”

Head coach Joe DiPietro joined the coaching staff in November of 2021. The team was able to secure a spot in the GNAC tournament for the first time since 2019 this season. 

“We also wanted to prove everyone who was rooting against us wrong,” Thiessen said. “Having that fire and trying to compete with each other to win was the biggest motivator for this year.”

Thiessen cites her parents as a big reason for why she began playing softball in the first place, and that they started her young. 

“I started playing when I was about five-years-old,” Thiessen said. “My parents were big into putting their kids through sports. So through middle school, I played every other sport and then in high school, I started thinking that I wanted to go to college for softball.” 

Thiessen said that traveling with her team was one of the motivating factors for continuing softball. 

“I really liked the team dynamic,” Thiessen said. “Playing with so many teams … I was in Canada, so I got to travel to the east side often. The experience of being with everyone was kind of my biggest part in choosing softball.” 

Thiessen said as a softball player from Canada, her path to becoming a collegiate player was different than most.  

“Softball is not as big back home,” Thiessen said. “So I ended up playing in the states more often. We didn’t have as many big tournaments … I was at a softball academy for high school. We trained for half the day every single day. I don’t really see a lot of that down here.” 

The training paid off, as Thiessen was one of six Wildcats from the softball team named to All-GNAC honors. Her selection to First Team All-GNAC was unanimous. 

Thiessen said she takes pride in being able to represent CWU. She said playing at a smaller school like CWU helped her achieve a successful season due to more opportunities. 

“That’s why I like the smaller school, I had a better chance of being a starter and having a bigger impact on the team,” Thiessen said. “Being at a Division II level lets you compete in a more comfortable area where you’re able to succeed more.”

Coming off her unanimous First Team All-GNAC selection, and heading into her senior campaign, Thiessen said she knows she is going to be stepping into a leadership role next season. 

“I’m pretty soft-spoken,” Thiessen said. “I’d say I’m more like a lead-by-example type of player … especially going into being a senior next year. We have eight new people coming in, and I want to set a good example for them, show them how the four years here have kind of changed who I am as an athlete and a person, and that it’s worth putting in that extra work too.”