Softball was Destiny for Syracuse Utility Player Mary Dombrowski

By Julia Morris
Photos courtesy of SU Athletics

Syracuse, N.Y -- Softball was a part of Mary Dombrowski’s life even before she was born. 

Her parents, Jim and Karen, met while playing in a recreational softball league for New York State employees.  One day after a game, while drinking at Sutter’s Mill and Mining Co. Bar in Albany, Jim proposed to Karen.  And since the two had met through softball he figured he would tie that into his proposal – so he put the engagement ring in a hollowed out softball.  Karen said yes.

Given Jim and Karen’s history with the sport, it is no surprise that their two daughters, Katie and Mary, quickly picked it up.   

“It’s kind of been a destiny thing for me and my sister,” Mary Dombrowski said.

Dombrowski is a righty batting utility player on Syracuse’s softball team, primarily playing center field so far this season.  Originally recruited as a shortstop, the team captain has played every position except for pitcher and catcher during her four-year career at Syracuse.   Her versatile skill set is no surprise given the fact that softball has long been a part of who she is. 

“I started playing at age four,” Dombrowski said. “It’s a constant, it always has been.”


From goofy kid to serious player

Dombrowski wasn’t the first athlete in her family – her older brother, Matt, and older sister, Katie, also started playing sports at a young age.  While Matt stuck to football, basketball, lacrosse and volleyball, Katie also played softball, which meant that she and Mary spent a lot of time playing together growing up in Delmar, N.Y.  Dombrowski still remembers the moment when she realized she wanted to take the sport seriously – she was only eleven years old.

“I was really social as a child, really goofy, always wanting to be the center of attention, cracking jokes and my sister and father were like 'do you want to do this seriously or recreationally because you need to choose now,'” Dombrowski said. “Eleven years old – like asking yourself do you want to play this in college?”

Dombrowski decided to get serious and dedicate herself to the sport - and soon the results started to show.  She led her 14-and-under travel softball team, Capital Region Rampage, to a ninth-place finish at the Pony Nationals in Cary, N.C. Dombrowski says her dad, the coach of the team, was a big reason for their success.

“His energy really infused me and my teammates and it just made it a fun, winning enjoyable experience.”
 

Lessons from her sister
 

Jim also encouraged Mary to try out for the varsity team of her future high school, Bethlehem Central, when she was in seventh grade - but Katie wanted to enjoy her senior year without her younger sister tagging along.   When Katie did graduate in 2008, Mary tried out and made the team as an eighth grader – and it did not take long for her to start flourishing.  During her time at Bethlehem, she was two-time sectional MVP and New York State player of the year in 2011.  As a senior, she also led her team to its first Section II-AA Softball title in 30 years. 

While Mary was shining at Bethlehem, Katie had gone on to play at UConn.  A corner infielder, she was equally talented- but gave playing after her freshman year to focus on her studies. Mary can remember being in the car when Katie called her coach to say she was quitting.  She says Katie’s  situation and decision helped her keep a greater perspective on the sport.

“From my sister I learned through all the losses and strikeouts, it’s about building a good character for yourself,” Dombrowski said.

That perspective has stayed with her at Syracuse where she majors in Communications and Rhetorical Studies in the College of Visual and Performing Arts. The transition from high school star to college athlete has not gone exactly how Dombrowski pictured.  At Bethlehem, she maintained a .346 batting average her senior year.  However, during her career at Syracuse, she has never hit above .200 and currently holds a .139 average this season although she did have a solo home run against Northwestern.  While Dombrowski may not be the Orange’s best offensive player - and even refers to herself as the “strikeout queen” - she has found other ways to lead the team.

“I am not the offensive player that I was expecting to be,” Dombrowski said.  “You come in thinking that that’s going to carryover from high school and it doesn’t necessarily.  So I decided I need to be a leader in a different way and I’ll set the right example and try to make it a fun environment because that’s what makes a winning team.”

Better and stronger

Dombrowski sets a fun environment by keeping her teammates loose, which is important given the amount of travel the team has to do – Syracuse has 28 games road games before finally taking the field at Skytop Softball Stadium on March 24.   Dombrowski says while she is probably the worst dancer on the team, when she hears Miley Cyrus songs she has to bust a move and make her teammates laugh.

The Orange’s chemistry and the fun team environment has not yet translated into  winning results, as Syracuse currently has a 7-8 record to start the season. But Dombrowski thinks it is only a matter of time before things start clicking.

“The athleticism and the talent is there,” Dombrowski said.  “There’s just something mental that is not clicking in games right now because our record in no way, shape or form reflects our abilities.”

Dombrowski is especially anxious for things to start clicking because her college-career is coming to an end.   And while she values winning, she says it is the lessons softball has taught her that will stay with her, even long after her career with the sport she was destined to play comes to an end.

“Softball is a mentally demanding sport and exhausting and abusive at times on yourself but I’m so glad that I had that,” Dombrowski said.  “I’m a much better and stronger person because of the sport.”