Earning a position on an athletic team may be tough to handle for some people. Not everyone is fortunate enough to gain an athletic scholarship to play softball at a Division I school.

This was true for senior infielder Maggie Johnson, but hard work and determination gave her the opportunity to play as a walk-on for the UNC Wilmington softball team her freshman year. “I have already achieved more than I ever thought I would coming to college,” Johnson said. “Making the team as a walk-on and by the end of my freshman year I was starting–that is something I have never would have expected.”

Oddly enough, Johnson did not start her career in softball. She started her career out in baseball, with a one-year stint in softball. Johnson started playing tee-ball when she was 6 in New Jersey and played softball there for only one year. When Johnson was in fourth grade, her family moved to Raleigh.

When she moved to Raleigh, she did not pick up a softball bat but instead a baseball bat. It just so happened that her best friend when she moved to North Carolina played baseball. “We were two girls who wanted to play, and she was allowed to play on this one team, but the coach did not like girls,” Johnson said. “He thought that girls were not as good as guys, so I thought if she could do it I could do it, too.”

Johnson attended Millbrook High School in Raleigh. The two major sports that she concentrated on were softball and volleyball. She was heavily committed to both sports, but it was not until she came to UNCW that she decided that she would have a better chance in softball.

Throughout Johnson’s career there has not been one person influencing her behind the scenes, but rather two people. Both her parents have made major contributions to her career on and off the field.

“Their support is constant, and whatever I have wanted to do, they have been there telling me I can do it or helping me to practice or play, whatever I needed,” Johnson said.

Johnson has come a long way from a freshman walk-on. She is now a senior and the captain of the UNCW softball team. Her experience helps her to communicate between the players and the coaches. If any problems break out, especially with the freshmen on the team, she takes care of it or brings it up with head coach Maggie St. Ledger.

“She is a very level headed, consistent type of person and she takes this personality onto the field,” St. Ledger said.

Johnson is able to pass on her experience to the future stars on the team. “A lot of the freshmen, especially the walk-ons, come to me to talk about playing time, because that’s how I was as a freshman; I was a walk-on,” Johnson said. “Now they are like ‘look at you; now you are the captain, and you’re playing,’ and it helps them to know that it is possible.”

Johnson is not your typical leader on the field, because she is not at those highly known leader positions like a catcher or a pitcher; she plays first base.

One of her major contributions to the team is her hitting. “I have been told that the team looks for me for RBIs.” Johnson led the team in RBIs last season with 28.

“She has really been a wonderful student athlete and she gives you the same type of game and attitude every game,” St. Ledger said.

Her achievements throughout her career have opened new doors for her off the field. Johnson will graduate with a degree in psychology. She plans to go to graduate school and is leaning toward studying sports psychology.