Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Q & A With Adie and Haley Viefhaus
03/18/2004 | 12:00:00 | Softball
March 18, 2004
What's it like to be a senior this season?
Adie Viefhaus: "It's fun. It's kind of weird because I feel like it was just yesterday I was walking to the dorms and my older sister (Marta, played softball at SIU from 1998-2001) was here, and we were all hanging out. But it's fun. It's a lot of work and pressure of always trying to be a good example for the younger girls. I love it."
Haley Viefhaus: "It's different having the pressure of everyone looking at you as seniors. Just having people look up to you that way, expecting you to step up in certain situations, because you are seniors. There's a lot that's expected of seniors so I think it's fun to be a senior. I don't think of it as pressure in a bad way, but in a good way."
What was the NCAA Tournament run last season like?
A. Viefhaus: "It was awesome, it was such an unreal experience at the time. I didn't realize it until afterwards how well we did and how far we got. Just watching the games on TV and knowing how close we were to being there. It was so fun and I would do anything to get back there this year."
H. Viefhaus: "Watching it (the Women's College World Series) on TV, knowing that we were so close, was an awesome experience. It was interesting and it was fun. I just think we have the same expectations this year."
Which honor that you received during your SIU tenure means the most to you?
A. Viefhaus: "I haven,t really gotten that many honors. I like being picked for preseason stuff (2004 Preseason 2nd Team All-MVC Catcher), that's always a good honor to actually know that people are thinking ahead of you before the season starts. People thinking about you being the one to watch when they're playing against you. That's always an honor. The other honor I got was making 2nd Team All-Conference my sophomore year."
H. Viefhaus: "I would say for me, making the NCAA All-Region VIII Team, because not only were we that far but I was able to keep hitting the ball well. Not just for myself, but we scored big runs for everybody. It was important that a lot of other people made the All-Region team because towards the end, we were all doing things together."
Your sister Marta played for SIU Softball from 1998-2001. How much of an influence did she have on your decision to come here and what was it like playing with her?
A. Viefhaus: "Yes, very much so. We knew everything about the school ahead of time by what she had told us and by her experiences. She wasn't an influence on us in terms of pressure, but more by knowing how things are run. "
"Playing together was so fun. We loved being able to all go out there together. It was such a close team that year (2001) because obviously we're very close, but Marta had friends. Sometimes it's harder to have seniors be close with freshmen but since she was close with us and her friends, it helped us really feel like part of the team and be able to relax and have someone to look up to, show us the ropes, and help us around. It made it real easy for us."
H. Viefhaus: "We had an advantage of more of an inside look of what actually goes on with this team. When you visit a school, you get to see the players, the coaches, and the field, but you won't know what it's like playing with them. Here we did, because we knew the coach more than coming down to visit and talk on the phone every once in a while. We actually got to know the coach because my sister got to play here for four years and we got to know the girls on the team and what it's like to be on a team that cares about each other so much."
"Playing together was such a fun experience. We did it in high school, but doing it in college was totally different. I just wish our little sister was old enough so she could play here when we were seniors and she was a freshman. Also it was easy on our parents that way. They were able to come down to all of our games and not have to worry about which game to go to. We have a really close family so it was nice for us to be together."
Your younger sister is also deemed a softball prospect. Does she feel any pressure to follow in her sisters, footsteps?
A. Viefhaus: "No, we don't put any pressure on her at all. She loves softball and is great at softball because she loves it and works so hard. She has an advantage of three older sisters who don't beat up on her, but throw the ball hard at her and would not be ready to catch it. She was scared at first but now she hits better than I do when we hit in the batting cages."
"She's going to be a great ballplayer and we don't put any pressure on her where to go to school. It's all her decision. If she goes here, great. All four of us going to one school, that doesn't happen very often. It would be great if she goes here but at the same time, it's her own life and decision, so it's all about her."
H. Viefhaus: "I think she's already filled our footsteps."
Is there anything special having the majority of your teammates from St. Louis?
A. Viefhaus: "It's also really fun because the summer before our season was starting, I could go down and watch the girls who were going to come here this year. I had the advantage to see what they were like personally and on the field. I got talk to them in between games and meet them, which you don't get to do very often before they come down to practice."
H. Viefhaus: "I think it's neat because we recognize the girls before they even get to SIU. This past year, we knew Ashley Hamby, Amanda Clifton, and Alex Pepin were coming in. Just being familiar with them is an advantage ahead of time because the biggest thing is to mesh and come together as a team. If you're familiar with the team ahead of time, that's great. I think it says a lot about St. Louis and how hard the girls have been working in St. Louis, because a lot of big colleges recruit California girls or Florida girls, people that can play year-round."
What do you plan on doing after graduating?
A. Viefhaus: "We are both education majors and will eventually become teachers. We want to teach and coach together if we can."
H. Viefhaus: "We actually won't graduate for another year because we're education majors. We'll just be hanging out with our older sister, who is pregnant, and we'd like to play with our niece or nephew, hopefully a niece. We'd just like to hang with our family, since softball takes up a lot of time. Our parent's go to our games, but we spend a lot of time away from our family from home. So we'd spend time with our family, friends, and catch up with our softball friends that have gone on to other colleges. Just hang out and relax. I feel I would be so bored with the extra time, I'd have to coach a high school team where I'm teaching. I'm going to have to do something to take up my time because it's always been softball, softball, softball for 21 years."
Which one of you is the better athlete?
A. Viefhaus: "Neither one."
H. Viefhaus: "Maggie (the youngest) and Marta. No I think we're actually the same in everything. Maybe Adie has a stronger arm or I'm quicker around third but we play different positions and you can't really compare it. We have different skills and talents.
Have any of you done something such as mistakenly worn the other's jersey?
A. Viefhaus: "Maybe wearing and stealing the other's socks."
H. Viefhaus: "Not really anything besides that. No jerseys, shorts, or anything like that."
How often do your close friends or boyfriends confuse one of you from the other?
A. Viefhaus: "The only people would be our mom and dad. They'd spit out anything, even Marta and Maggie. Our parents call us the dog names sometimes, Boogie and Mookie. Besides that, no one really confuses us, especially from our uniforms."
After you two graduate and leave, how do you want people to remember the Viefhaus sisters who played softball?
A. Viefhaus: "Just keeping the respect for the game and for your teammates. That's not the stuff you see in the record book, but what holds teams together and builds great teams. It's not whether or not it's 7,000 home runs or anything like that. It's little stuff that no one sees all the time and that's what makes real teams. Also not making every single play, but hustling and giving it all every single play. That's one thing you can always control, how hard you play and hustle, and nobody can take that away from you."
H. Viefhaus: "Just to be remembered respectfully. People respecting the way you played the game and the person that you are on and off the field. Respect how you play with teammates and how you encourage them. Leading as an example, not in the record books, but of how the game should be played on the field. I hope that people can remember that."
After last season, what do you want to accomplish this season?
A. Viefhaus: "Just make sure everytime you do something, learn from it and get better from it. It's always about improving. Even my last game of the year, I should still be able to improve from something. You're always going to have the ability to get better both mentally or physically and you can always learn from your mistakes. As a team, same thing. Just play better and learn how to be a good team and compete. Plus having confidence and having fun, because when you are winning, you are having fun."
H. Viefhaus: "Personally, I just want to get in there and play like it's my last season because it is my last season. Leave no regrets, leave nothing behind. I think that's very important, but as a team, I just want to go as far as we can. There's no win this or win that. Just do what we can and have the ability to do. One thing we should do is win conference and play well in the conference tournament also. I don't think we played bad last year or any other year, but I really think we need to leave a mark in the conference because this is something we've never won. It's just something we always think we have the ability to do but for some reason, something happens where we havent gotten to that point yet. That's one of my big goals. Just leave everything out there."
