(submitted photo/Crystal Gaja)

By Mat Barrett

Carrot River softball star

From Carrot River to South Dakota: Gaja receives scholarship to play NCAA softball

Nov 19, 2019 | 12:11 PM

The University of South Dakota (USD) women’s softball team will have some northeast Saskatchewan flavour for their next season.

Carrot River native Jaden Gaja received an athletic scholarship to play for the Coyotes.

The grade 12 catcher is currently going to school, and training at Tommy Douglas Collegiate in Saskatoon at the softball academy.

Gaja said she started playing softball when she was three years old. She played with her siblings in the backyard before playing baseball in Carrot River for a year before a softball team was created in the area. After that, it was a consistent rise for Gaja who has since played for numerous A teams including the Prince Albert Aces where she won a provincial title in 2018 and was also named an All-Star in the Girls Prarie League Softball.

She was also part of the Melfort Spirit B team for a few years. On top of that, Gaja has played for the Saskatoon Selects at the provincial level and has been to the Saskatchewan Summer Games (winning silver in 2016), the Western Canadian Championships numerous times, and has also been a part of the 222’s Fastpitch Elite Travel team for four years.

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(submitted photo/Crystal Gaja)

Last year, with some help from her coaches at Tommy Douglas, Gaja caught the eye of the USD women’s softball coach. Gaja was brought to Vermillion, South Dakota to see the school and she said she immediately fell in love and knew it was the right school for her. She verbally committed during her Grade 11 year, and officially signed recently.

(Submitted Photo/Jaden Gaja)

Gaja said heading into her first season of University softball, she just needs to keep working hard.

“Working on my skills as much as I can,” she said. “Keep focusing the majority of my time towards ball, so that I can go in there sharp and being able to learn and get better so I can have a starting position and hopefully play.”

She added the opportunity to start is still up in the air and it will be decided closer to the season.

“Because every university teaches their players different ways to say field a ball, or hit a ball, there’s different mechanics,” Gaja told northeastNOW. “So it’s just how you can embrace how they’re teaching it, and how you perform.”

Gaja said she is looking to try out for Team Canada at some point as well and hope to continue ball past university.

Off the field, Gaja plans to study sports medicine as she wants to become a physiotherapist.

She gave some words of wisdom to some young kids on the diamond.

“Always believe in yourself, and work hard for anything you want to achieve,” Gaja said. “Because even though you come from, say Carrot River, a small town, or wherever you live, there’s opportunities all over if you just put your mind to it.”

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mat.barrett@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @matbarrett6