It comes as a surprise, but Monique Fuiava is willing to admit softball isn’t the top priority in her life.
When Fuiava, a senior first baseman who played in her final game as an Oregon Duck in Saturday’s Super Regional loss to fourth-seeded Florida, came to Eugene to begin her career four years ago she was young and, at times, complacent.
Her talent was undeniable, but it took a few choice words from Joanna Gail on her official visit — then a junior third baseman with the Ducks — to get the incoming freshman’s mind right.
“She was one of the leaders on the team, and she asked me, ‘Aren’t you excited to play softball?’” Fuiava said. “I was like, ‘Whatever, it gets me to college.’ She’s so passionate about this sport, she just cussed me out. She went off on me.”
It was a wake up call for Fuiava, who at the time looked at the sport as a means to an end. Softball was a game she could play while getting school paid for and paving the way for her three younger siblings — two brothers and one sister — to attend college.
As a first-generation college student, it took Fuiava a few years to get the finer details of being a student-athlete understood. Her performance on the field generally spoke for itself, but Fuiava’s maturity and dedication had fallen into question.
After starting in 62 games as a true freshman in 2008, Fuiava, along with the Oregon program, hit an all-time low the following season where the team finished 16-34 overall. The Ducks’ head coach Kathy Arendsen, who recruited Fuiava, was fired later that spring, and the team as a whole was at a crossroads.@@http://www.addictedtoquack.com/2009/5/20/881723/uo-softball-coach-kathy-arendsen@@
“It was kind of a bittersweet moment,” Fuiava said. “My sophomore year was the lowest point in my career actually, and for us to have such a bad season and also to be told that we were getting new coaches, we were like, ‘Well damn, it can’t get any worse than this.’”
Fuiava said she never considered leaving the team — quitting isn’t taken lightly, or remotely accepted in the Fuiava household — and credits another heated discussion with Jeremy Pick, who was Oregon’s strength and conditioning coach at the time, for a renewed desire to improve her craft.
During a trip to Stanford late in her freshman year, Fuiava was benched for the first time in her career. Instead of consulting the coaching staff on how to regain her spot in the starting lineup, Fuiava coasted for a few games, and it took Pick’s harsh words to get her back on track.
“It almost brought a tear to my eye,” Fuiava remembers. “It really did help me realize that I do have something to offer the team, whether I’m on the bench or the starting lineup.”
As her junior season approached and a new coaching staff came on board, Fuiava, whether by choice or default, was one of the few experienced veterans on a team that made its first-ever trip to the Super Regionals. She had more than 100 starts under her belt and statistically she was working her way up the Oregon record books.
“She’s really like my big sister,” sophomore Kaylan Howard said. “She took me in last year and she’s the person I always go to.”
Fuiava and Howard started more than 100 games together at first and second base over the last two years, and built a lasting relationship that benefited more than just Howard.
“Mo’s the kind of person that will tell you how it is,” Howard said. “I wouldn’t say she doesn’t care about sparing your feelings, but she just — if we need somebody to talk to the team about something, we would have Mo do it.”
Fuiava’s impact on the Oregon program goes far beyond the stat sheets, though she capped her Oregon career on the all-time top-10 list in doubles (third-tie, 38), homers (sixth, 27) and RBI (ninth, 103).@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=4377&SPID=245&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205155820@@
The Lynwood, Calif., native admits her outlook on the softball has improved over the years.
“I have come to the realization that I don’t have a love for the sport, but I definitely have a passion for softball,” Fuiava said. “I can’t sit here and say I love softball — no, I don’t. But I do have a passion for it. I love helping others; after college I do plan on helping my little sister, and I want her to get further than I do.”
As a journalism major aiming to get into sports broadcasting in the future, Fuiava took the numerous speaking opportunities she had over the years to fine-tune her craft, which she hopes to parlay into a career for a professional sports organization in the Bay Area after graduation.
And as she sat back and reflected for the briefest of moments on her Oregon career, the people — like Gail and Pick — will be what she remembers most.
“Whether good or bad, friends or enemies,” Fuiava said, “I’d remember ‘em all.”
You can be sure they’ll remember her, too.