 "Photo: The Olympian/Ted Copeland")
The Olympic College Rangers' success this season has been largely due to the leadership of pitcher Jacqui Bushor.
If someone were to see Bushor not in uniform, his or her first thought would probably not be that she is a star softball player. With shorter hair, some piercings and tattoos, Bushor is a one-of-a-kind softball player and her story is a bit different than the typical athletes. At the age of 22 Bushor has seen a lot in her lifetime.
Bushor was born and raised in Bremerton, and has played softball since she was nine. Through high school Bushor was a great player; mainly playing on traveling teams. She even played in a recruiting tournament in Colorado, where she received letters from different schools.
Her choice was Portland State, but because of her lifestyle at the time she never ended up going to school or playing softball right out of high school.
“I got caught up in the hype of stupid teenage things,” said Bushor. “It started in high school and just got worse, and by the time I was 18 things were pretty bad.”
Although Bushor had the opportunity to play for a major university with a scholarship, her life of drugs and partying set her back until she realized that wasn’t where she wanted to be.
“When you’re into drugs you think that the people you hang with are your best friends when really they’re not,” said Bushor. “I had become naïve, I had seen my family go through it and I saw myself doing the same thing and was very manipulative.”
Although Bushor was going through a rough patch in her life, she was lucky because she had people there to help her through it. Bushor had for separated herself from her family for the most part, but claims that she moved in with her father and he was big help.
Her biggest influence however was a very close ‘friend’ of hers who let Bushor move in with her and her family, just after she had quit the drug scene.
“My father was there and was someone to talk to,” said Bushor. “My best friend really helped me out, I met her just after I stopped (using drugs), and she was older and had gone though the same thing, so hearing her stories and being able to identify with someone helped me out a lot.”
Head coach Jessica Cabato has known Bushor for a while and before Bushor played for OC she was working at a Subway here in Bremerton. Cabato would come into Bushor’s work and tell her if she ever wanted to come and play to just let her know. Cabato had told her brother, Raymond about Bushor, and it was Raymond who found Bushor on MySpace, and Bushor gave him her number for Cabato.
“I had considered going back (to school) before but I just wasn’t ready,” said Bushor. “I had a job but I wasn’t really doing anything so I decided to go back and get an education and do something with my life.”
This season has been full of ups and downs for Bushor. The ups have been her performance on the field she has been the team leader not only with her great pitching but with her bat as well.
The downs have been her injuries, she has tore her rotator cuff, had a bad back and been sick this season, but she has still impressed the coaches, teammates and fans.
“I am thoroughly impressed, she took a couple years off, and just her body being able to make it through this season says a lot,” said Cabato. “She is a great leader and knows how to push the team, and they respond, I am very hopeful that she comes back.”
Be the first to comment on this article!