Emily Daniel rips a base hit for the Marysville High School girls softball team. Daniel recently completed another successful season with the University of Dayton.
(Journal-Tribune file photo by Tim Miller)
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Emily Daniel made a big name for herself when she played softball at Marysville High School.
The 2019 MHS graduate earned first-team honors in the Ohio Capital Conference and Central District (Division I), along with All-Ohio honorable mention accolades.
Along the way, she set single-season and career batting average records with respective marks of .559 and .545.
Daniel has continued her diamond success on the collegiate level, but not without a bit of a detour.
She began her college career at Wright State University. Her freshman spring season, however, was halted at approximately the midway point due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Daniel was in the starting outfield all 18 games. She batted a team-leading .432 and swiped five bases.
As if having her freshman season cut short wasn’t bad enough, Daniel then learned Wright State was dropping the sport, along with men’s and women’s tennis, due to budget constraints.
That left Daniel searching for a new school.
She entered the NCAA transfer portal and quickly found a new academic and athletic home.
Daniel didn’t have to travel far as she became a member of the softball team at nearby University of Dayton.
She has had two solid seasons with the Flyers.
She started 36 of 47 games during the 2021 campaign and was fourth on the team with 31 hits.
The recent 2022 season saw Daniel bat .400, which was second on the team and also in the Atlantic-10 Conference.
She was also second on the squad with 16 stolen bases.
During a telephone interview with the Journal-Tribune, Daniel said her collegiate diamond career has gone well to date.
“After I transferred, I began feeling more comfortable at Dayton,” she said. “The other members of the team were very welcoming and that has allowed me to thrive there.”
Daniel said the Flyers are surrounded by a good softball atmosphere.
“Everybody around you is very good and they are motivated to reach their goals,” she said. “It’s a very healthy environment.”
The former Lady Monarch said her high school experience helped prepare her for the rigors of Division I college softball.
“The college game is a lot faster, but the success and competition I experienced at Marysville helped prepare me,” she said.
Daniel earned four varsity letters with the Lady Monarchs and helped lead them to OCC divisional championships in 2018 and 2019.
Daniel will be an academic senior at Dayton when school begins for the 2022-23 year.
All NCAA athletes, however, were granted an extra year of eligibility due to COVID-19.
That means Daniel will be able to play two more years of softball.
She will graduate in the spring of 2023 with a degree in biology and plans to play an additional year on the Flyers’ diamond.
“I’m going to pursue the extra year of softball in 2024,” she said. “I may also go after my Master’s degree, which is a one-year program in biology, at that time.”
Once she’s done with softball, Daniel anticipates enrolling in PA (physician’s assistant) school.
“That’s going to be a big-time commitment of two-to-three years,” she said. “I’ll apply for PA school at Dayton and maybe look at some other schools as well.”
Daniel will play softball this fall for Dayton and then looks forward to the 2023 spring season.
“We’ll have some scrimmages and play games against other teams in Ohio this fall,” she said. “We’ve got a lot of people coming back to the team next spring and I’m excited to see how we can do.”