University of North Carolina Athletics
Catching Up with Taylor Wike on the ASBA Season
July 26, 2018 | Softball
CHAPEL HILL – Recent graduate Taylor Wike completed her career in Carolina Blue this spring as a four-time All-ACC First Team selection with three UNC career records. As a result, the decorated Tar Heel alum was drafted to play professional softball for Outkast during the inaugural season of the American Softball Association's league. With one week left to play this season, Go Heels caught up with Wike on her experience.
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Go Heels: How has the summer been for you?
Taylor Wike: It's been a lot of fun. I've met a lot of new people. We play every day so it's been tiring. But overall, it's been a good time. Getting to know the other teams has been the coolest part about it. All four teams are really close.
We don't really practice because we play every day. On our off days on Monday, all of us will hang out in different groups. So that's been cool. It makes it more fun playing against each other.
Most of us live with host families. My roommate is on the E1 Pro Ballers team. So that's been interesting to live with someone from a different team. She leads off for their team. It's cool to see her doing well too. We give each other a hard time on the field, but off the field, we're really good friends.
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GH: What has it been like for you to play with or against players you saw during your time at UNC?
TW: There are two players here from Pittsburgh, McKayla Taylor and Giorgiana Zeremenko and two from Syracuse Anna Gatti and Faith Cain. I didn't play with anyone on my team, but our second baseman played at Longwood, Carly Adams. So that's been pretty cool to see them in a different situation and see how they've grown and improved down here.
I've become friends with G (Zeremenko). Becoming friends with people I used to play against is kind of funny because we all have our stories from college and we come together now. We've all become friends so that's pretty cool because we all have different experiences but we get here and we're all on the same level. I give the Pitt girls a hard time for kind of ending my career but they're good people so it's been great to become friends with them.
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GH: What has the biggest adjustment been for you from playing at UNC to now playing professionally?
TW: The biggest adjustment down here has been that we see the same teams over and over so the catchers and pitchers get to know you as a hitter. It's become a mental game of who is going to beat the other person that day. In college, you get the scouting reports every game and then there's only three games in the weekend. The biggest adjustment has been seeing the same people over and over again and them figuring out what your weaknesses are and you figuring out their weaknesses.
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GH: What have you learned from your experience this summer?
TW: I've learned to be open minded about things. Everyone's different and everyone has their different style of hitting. The pitchers are all different. So just being open minded to the game and different ways people play and are successful even though they might play differently than I do. It's cool to see how everyone can be different and still succeed.
Off the field, it's just been really fun begin down here. All the people are really nice. A couple of our girls played at Mississippi State so the teams rallied around Alex Wilcox and supporting the cause. We wore new jerseys and had teal ribbons. It's been a really good experience this summer.
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GH: What does the rest of the season look like for you? Â
TW: Playoffs begin this week with a best two out of three, championship series Sunday to Tuesday next week. It's all double elimination. I'm hoping we're the No. 2 seed but we'll see how it all plays out these next couple weeks, but I'm excited. Then, in August, Destiny (DeBerry), Leah (Murray), Katelyn (Shifflett) and I are all going to a Kenny Chesney concert so I'm really looking forward to that too.
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Stay up to date with Carolina Softball by following the Tar Heels on Twitter and Instagram.
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Go Heels: How has the summer been for you?
Taylor Wike: It's been a lot of fun. I've met a lot of new people. We play every day so it's been tiring. But overall, it's been a good time. Getting to know the other teams has been the coolest part about it. All four teams are really close.
We don't really practice because we play every day. On our off days on Monday, all of us will hang out in different groups. So that's been cool. It makes it more fun playing against each other.
Most of us live with host families. My roommate is on the E1 Pro Ballers team. So that's been interesting to live with someone from a different team. She leads off for their team. It's cool to see her doing well too. We give each other a hard time on the field, but off the field, we're really good friends.
Â
GH: What has it been like for you to play with or against players you saw during your time at UNC?
TW: There are two players here from Pittsburgh, McKayla Taylor and Giorgiana Zeremenko and two from Syracuse Anna Gatti and Faith Cain. I didn't play with anyone on my team, but our second baseman played at Longwood, Carly Adams. So that's been pretty cool to see them in a different situation and see how they've grown and improved down here.
I've become friends with G (Zeremenko). Becoming friends with people I used to play against is kind of funny because we all have our stories from college and we come together now. We've all become friends so that's pretty cool because we all have different experiences but we get here and we're all on the same level. I give the Pitt girls a hard time for kind of ending my career but they're good people so it's been great to become friends with them.
Â
GH: What has the biggest adjustment been for you from playing at UNC to now playing professionally?
TW: The biggest adjustment down here has been that we see the same teams over and over so the catchers and pitchers get to know you as a hitter. It's become a mental game of who is going to beat the other person that day. In college, you get the scouting reports every game and then there's only three games in the weekend. The biggest adjustment has been seeing the same people over and over again and them figuring out what your weaknesses are and you figuring out their weaknesses.
Â
GH: What have you learned from your experience this summer?
TW: I've learned to be open minded about things. Everyone's different and everyone has their different style of hitting. The pitchers are all different. So just being open minded to the game and different ways people play and are successful even though they might play differently than I do. It's cool to see how everyone can be different and still succeed.
Off the field, it's just been really fun begin down here. All the people are really nice. A couple of our girls played at Mississippi State so the teams rallied around Alex Wilcox and supporting the cause. We wore new jerseys and had teal ribbons. It's been a really good experience this summer.
Â
GH: What does the rest of the season look like for you? Â
TW: Playoffs begin this week with a best two out of three, championship series Sunday to Tuesday next week. It's all double elimination. I'm hoping we're the No. 2 seed but we'll see how it all plays out these next couple weeks, but I'm excited. Then, in August, Destiny (DeBerry), Leah (Murray), Katelyn (Shifflett) and I are all going to a Kenny Chesney concert so I'm really looking forward to that too.
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Stay up to date with Carolina Softball by following the Tar Heels on Twitter and Instagram.
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Players Mentioned
SS/2B
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