Westmoore's Janelle Marwitz Academic Athlete of the Month sponsored by Republic Bank and Trust

Written by John Tranchina

Janelle Marwitz didn’t start her sophomore softball season the way she wanted to, but encouragement and support from Westmoore coach Jenny Rollins helped her turn the corner and enjoy a strong second half.

“I feel like this season I was off to a shaky start and Coach Rollins, she believed in me and persisted with me, so I ended the year doing really well,” said Marwitz, a pitcher. “And I was really proud of the outcome. I was just kind of mentally out of it at first, but Coach Rollins just kept telling me that she wasn’t going to give up on me and I believed her.”

The Jaguars went 24-14, eventually falling in the Class 6A regional final 9-5 to eventual state champion Mustang, and Marwitz said that made her feel a little better about how the season ended.

“It makes me feel better, because I know that, at the end of the day, we lost to a great team and we gave our all, even thought it wasn’t how we wanted it to go,” she said.

Besides pitching, and playing outfield when not on the mound, Marwitz also plays slow-pitch in the spring and is in the Latin Club at Westmoore, all while maintaining a 4.0 GPA.

“I’ve thought about being a nurse or a pharmacist and I’ve heavily thought about going into the medical field,” said Marwitz of her future plans. “I just really like science and math and it just seems really interesting to me. And my sister has also done it, too, so she’s kind of inspired me. She’s a junior in college right now at Kansas. She’s doing a community health degree.”