Athlete of the Week: Tatum Browning, Carroll

May 15—Tatum Browning looked up to her sister growing up and credits wanting to follow in her footsteps as her inspiration to play softball.

Fast forward to near the end of her senior season and she had a highlight performance to help her team pull out a win in a back-and-forth contest.

Browning is a senior softball player at Carroll. In a game against Fenwick on Thursday, May 7, she went 6-for-6 at the plate, driving in eight RBI, scoring three times and hitting a home run and a double. She also pitched a complete game and struck out 12 batters.

For her efforts, Browning was named the Dayton Daily News Athlete of the Week for May 4-10, earning the honor through reader voting at DaytonDailyNews.com.

"It was very exciting to be nominated and to realize that other people recognize what I'm doing," Browning said. "When I realized I won, I was very excited and happy about it, and it was a really huge accomplishment to me."

Browning joins a group of players in the state record books with her performance as her six-hit game was the 54th instance in state history.

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The home run Browning hit was also the first of her varsity career.

"It was pretty crazy to hit a home run," she said. "I always want to hit a home run when I go up to bat, but at the time I wasn't thinking about it in my head. It just sort of happened."

She said the entire game against Fenwick was stressful and couldn't think of another varsity game like it — a 26-21 win for Carroll. She was proud of her team for not giving up.

Even though she had a great performance in the batter's box, being in the circle is where Browning likes to be on the field the most.

Having cited Jennie Finch as her favorite player, she said getting the feeling of being in control of the game and trying to make playing easier for her teammates on the field behind her is what she likes most about the game.

"We all care about each other, and I like the game because it's very intense and it can go so many different ways that you don't know of," she said.

Browning said her confidence growing from her freshman year to being a senior has helped her the most in her development. She'll get to continue seeing what's to come now as she signed with Edison State to keep playing at the next level.

"I was nervous because I wanted it so bad, but they offered me a spot on the team and I was so excited," Browning said. "It felt like a big weight had been lifted off my shoulders and I'm really excited to go there next year and play."

With the season ending for Carroll on Thursday, May 14, Browning said she'll miss her current teammates and times like celebrating her 500th career strikeout with silly string, but she's ready to keep getting to do what she was inspired to by her sister at an early age.