Alyson Habetz was sorting through some old emails a few weeks ago, looking for material for the University of Alabama softball team’s senior day, and found something that Haylie McCleney had sent while she was still in high school.
“I’ve got a test today,” it read. “I’m studying because I’m going to ace it.”
That’s the drive that Habetz, a UA assistant coach, has seen since before McCleney ever stepped foot on the UA campus.
“She wants to be the best at everything she does,” Habetz said. “Not second; she wants to be first.”
It was fitting, then, that McCleney’s 300th career hit was a product of study.