May 21, 2014 5 min read

Lara Andrews has taken the longest route to chase her dream of being a professional softball player in Washington: 8,654 miles from her hometown of Wellington, New Zealand, the country’s capital.

The 24-year-old Andrews left the comfortable beach home she lived in, looking after her 82-year-old grandmother, Ani Andrews, four years ago in the hopes of not only accomplishing her goals as a softball player but finding out as much about herself as possible.

It’s been quite a trip.

Andrews is battling for one of the corner infield spots on the Pennsylvania Rebellion National Pro Softball team, which will play at Consol Energy Park, and hopes to be the starter when the season begins May 30 with a game against the USSSA Pride in Salisbury, Md.

Andrews tried out for the team in March and, following the two-hour look, manager Rick Bertagnolli walked up to her and said, “You’re golden.”

“It occurred to me that I had just done something no other Kiwi had done before,” said Andrews. “I’m playing in the National Pro Softball league.”

Kiwi is the nickname given New Zealanders and is derived from the name of the flightless bird, which is the country’s national symbol.

Andrews has been anything but flightless, making two stateside trips recently, the last one a 27-hour marathon from start to finish. As a member of the New Zealand national team, Andrews has been to 11 countries and played in four world events.

“I’ve been on the national team since I was 15,” she said. “I’ve been doing a lot of travelling and playing softball, and I’m loving it.”

The United States was always the destination, not only because of the great softball played here but because she didn’t speak Japanese.

“Every time I competed on the world stage, the USA or Japan were always No. 1,” she said. “I wanted to excel. My theory is that in order to be the best, you have to learn how from the best and learn the way they think and play.”

Andrews has always been a marvelous athlete. She played rugby, basketball, field hockey, soccer and netball, which is similar to basketball but without a backboard for the net. By the time she left Sacred Heart College High School, she had her choice of sports.

“Actually, softball chose me,” she said. “Softball wasn’t a priority until I was a sophomore. I found I was succeeding. I was getting better and better. I was the captain and top batter and MVP on my teams.”

So she decided to commit to softball and test herself against the best players. To do that, she made an unconventional move, sending an email to a New Zealand softball website.

“I made a profile and a video,” she said. “I don’t remember who I sent it to, but he sent it out. Soon, I started getting emails back.”

She landed at Itawamba Community College in Tupelo, Miss., which happens to be the birthplace of Elvis Presley.

“It was difficult leaving home,” she said. “I had to survive on my own, make my own choices. But I had a goal to see how the best softball players played softball.”

Andrews misses the walks with her grandmother on the sandy beaches next to the turquoise waters of her hometown. She misses the simpler life New Zealand provides.

“It’s 20 years behind America,” she says, “but they do have ipods and iphones.”

And Skype, which is how she keeps more intimately in touch with her seven brothers and sisters when text messages and emails just aren’t enough.

Andrews adjusted to the differences in cultures, though she admits it is puzzling at time to watch Americans.

“In New Zealand, we don’t wear shoes in the house,” she said. “We don’t sit on tables because they are what you eat on. We don’t have roller coasters. We don’t make Christmas lists or ask for gifts. We’re thankful for just getting a gift.”

Andrews spent three years at the University of Delaware working for her degree in Human Services and Family Studies and playing softball. She was MVP each season and led the Blue Hens in just about every hitting category. Blue Hens head coach Jaime Wohlbach is an assistant to Bertagnolli and helped Andrews get the tryout.

“The athleticism is there, the coachability is there, and I believe she can pick up this level of play,” Bertagnolli said. “There is upside to her glove and bat. She can play either corner and she will have an opportunity to see the ballfield.”

Andrews knows this is a special time, and she is not taking her accomplishments lightly.

“Sometimes, I get frustrated. But then my family tells me how proud they are of me,” she said. “My nieces and nephews are following in my footsteps. They are looking to come to America and go to college.

“It’s a nice feeling to know I can give little girls the feeling that they can do this, too.”