It can be intimidating following in the footsteps of greats that came before you. Especially when you’re just a 14-year-old freshman. Emma Follis has passed with flying colors in her first year in the blue and white.

Head coach Sean Slavin said, “She just doesn’t carry herself like a freshman, I think she had a couple of at bats that got her down a little bit and we kind of chatted about that. You know, she’s still gotta go out there and do her job and throw the pitches and she did that and trust her defense, made some great plays.”

Her hard work and dedication has helped push Stamford to their third straight state tournament appearance and Follis is happy to be along for the ride.

Emma Follis said, “I’ve worked pretty hard. Outside of practice especially I pitch a lot, outside of practice. It’s really exciting, at the start of the year the seniors promised me we’d go to state and that we had a chance and I was just like, I didn’t really think about it at the time but as the season went on, it was great.”

Senior leaders on the team have high hopes Emma will continue to grow and be successful in the coming years.

Laylonna Applin said, “Obviously the expectation is, everyone just expects her to be Citlaly, but she’s made her own little pathway. She’s a freshman and she’s doing so good, not only in the circle but her at bat. So she’s just been doing really good overall and I’m super proud of her and as a freshman I’m super excited for her to go to Austin.”

The first thing Emma wants to check off her list is a state title. The Lady Bulldogs have another shot at it starting Tuesday against Como-Pickton at 7 p.m.