The Samford softball team opens the 2018 season Thursday at the Mardi Gras Tournament in Lafayette, La. As the team prepares to start the season, check out this feature story on senior center fielder Shelby Maze. 

By: Joey Mullins
Samford Assistant AD for Communication

Fathers and daughters find different things to bond over. Some share a love of music or movies or a specific sports team, or pretty much anything else they can find. For Samford senior center fielder Shelby Maze and her father, Shawn, it was softball.
           
Shawn coached Shelby from the time she started playing through her time as a standout at nearby Mortimer-Jordan High School.
           
"Softball was always my favorite sport," Maze said. "I've loved it ever since I started playing. I think my dad being my coach my whole life had a big impact on that. He was passionate about it, so I wanted to be passionate about it so I could spend time with him. I played other sports in high school, but softball was always my favorite."
           
Some athletes say they do not like playing for their dad, because sometimes they are harder on their child than on the other players. Maze said, however, she feels playing for her dad made her a better player.
           
"I think I liked playing for my dad more," Maze said. "Yes, he was hard on me, but I think that helped me become the player I am today. It was different because my dad has always been my coach. I was a junior in high school before he wasn't my coach. He coached me in high school, but not on my travel ball teams and then moving into college he wasn't my coach and it was kind of weird. It's just a different perspective."
           
Maze said her entire family, her parents and three younger sisters, are all extremely competitive. She said growing up in her family has just made being competitive second nature.
 
"It's always been competitive," Maze said. "You're either competitive or you just get beat at everything and that's just not happening in our house. Both of my parents are super competitive. They grew up playing sports and I think that it's just made it where, competitiveness is all I know. So, I'm always wanting to compete. Nothing is ever just a casual game."
 
After a stellar career playing for her dad at Mortimer-Jordan, Maze had a few options for playing college softball. She found the perfect fit for her close to home.
 
"I was only really recruited by UAB and Southern Illinois, in addition to Samford," Maze said. "I didn't like that Southern Illinois was so far away from home. I knew I wanted to be close to home. Samford was my first unofficial visit that I ever took and it was like home. I walked on campus and it was a small environment. I didn't want to go somewhere big where I didn't know a lot of people, but here it's small and the teachers are amazing.
 
"Also, the coaching staff here was amazing," Maze said. "It's changed a little bit as I've gone, but Coach Mandy (Burford) is amazing. I love the goals and the path that Coach Mandy has put this program on, and I just wanted to buy in and be a part of something big."
 
Though Maze is an outstanding softball player, she is a true student-athlete. She said, while she loves playing softball, she also loves being in the classroom.
 
"I like to call myself a nerd because I love classes and I just love school," Maze said. "I want to be a teacher, and I just can't stay out of the classroom."
 
When Maze came to Samford she found success on the field right away. As a freshman in 2015, she started 54 games and hit .350, with 63 total hits.
 
Maze said she felt like she transitioned to the college game fairly easily once she arrived at Samford.
 
"I think it was a pretty smooth transition," Maze said. "I played really competitive travel ball my last two years of travel ball. It was really competitive, so I was playing against the best. So, I felt like when I came in, yes it was a little bit faster my freshman year and I had to catch up to the pace, but once I caught up to the pace, it was pretty simple. It was great, it's a very competitive environment that I love being a part of."
 
During her sophomore season, Maze batted .383 with 72 hits, including nine doubles and two home runs. More importantly, Maze and her teammates earned the program's first Southern Conference Tournament title and first NCAA Tournament appearance.
 
"It was amazing," Maze said of winning the SoCon title. "From day one, the senior class was amazing and they had the attitude of, we're going to win. That's all we talked about. Our mindset was never anything but winning a championship. They wanted it, and we bought in. And the freshman class, which was the biggest part, bought in and we just ran with it. It was incredible. We swept multiple teams in the conference that year and it was just so fun doing it. There was never a doubt in my mind that we were going to win."
 
Her junior season in 2017 was, individually, Maze's most successful to date. She led the Southern Conference with an impressive .423 batting average. She also set a school record with 90 hits, breaking the old record of 86 set by current assistant coach Megan Dowdy in 2015. At the time Samford's season ended in the finals of the SoCon Tournament Maze's hit total was the highest in the nation.
 
Maze said she didn't know for a while that she was approaching the school record. She did say that once she found out, however, it served as extra motivation for her.
 
"I didn't notice until over halfway through the season that I was even competing for it," Maze said. "Coach Megan (Dowdy) told me about it. I never really thought about it, but once I did know about it, obviously I was competing with myself. I was like 'come on, you've got to beat this.' That wasn't my main focus, but it was what pushed me to be the best I could be that year."
 
As she prepares for her senior season, Maze said she and her teammates have one thing in mind for this year.
 
"I don't want to leave without another ring," Maze said. "I want to get back to the mindset we had my sophomore year. I want Lexie Higgins and me to be leaders like Meg and Callie Brister and Caitlin Bice were. I want the freshmen to look up to us like that and I want us to have the mindset that we're not finishing this season without a championship. We want this more than anything, and I don't want anything less than success throughout this season."
 
Once she graduates from Samford in the spring, Maze said she is planning on continuing her education.
 
"I'm going to get my master's in education," Maze said. "I plan to be an elementary school teacher two years from now, and I'm really excited about it. Being around kids has always been my passion in life. I don't know a better way to be a part of kids' lives than to teach them."