There are many roads to get to the top of the hill, but sometimes the most obvious one isn’t always the one that gets you there.

For Maggie Ham, now a junior at the Univ. of Oklahoma, the road that led her from George West, Texas to Norman, Okla. took a rather circuitous path—not the one most softball players would dream about when they are little girls dreaming of making it to the National Championship college team.

“I would not recommend the route I took,” Ham laughs, reflecting on how she went from high school to a Div. I college to a junior college and finally to her current home with the Sooners.

“It’s been a struggle moving every year, being in three different places in three years, and getting settled into a routine and knowing what’s expected,” she explains.

“I would have loved to have gone somewhere for four straight years, but that’s not how it worked out. Still, I consider myself very lucky and am very happy with where am I am today.”

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High School & Recruiting

Ham had a very successful high school career at George West (Texas) High, but her major problem was few college recruiters knew she existed.

“We were a small school and I had always heard they didn’t recruit out of high school. I live an hour and half between San Antonio and Corpus Christi in a small town of about 2,500 people and really didn’t know anybody or know how the process works.”

Ham played for the Corpus Christi Panthers and competed in ASA tournaments but didn’t make much noise on the national level.

“My freshman year we started playing Gold and we did OK, but never made it to Nationals. I wasn’t doing much to get noticed, to be honest.”

Success at the high school level was a different matter, however.

As a junior in 2010, Ham led George West to the school’s first ever softball title with a thrilling 1-0 eight-inning win over Brock High. Ham allowed only three hits and struck out a title game-record 16 batters while going four-for-four at the plate including two doubles and scoring the game-winning run.

Her individual stats for the season were jaw-dropping: she went 31-4 with 498 strikeouts in 214 innings and, not surprisingly, was chosen the 2A Player of the Year.

She had an equally successful senior season in 2011 going 23-3 with a 0.35 ERA and a .438 average at the plate to earn 1st team All-State honors.

Still, that success didn’t register on the recruiting radar and the fact Ham got any attention was eagerly welcomed as it allowed her to be the first from her family to go to college.

When she got an offer, she jumped on it.

“I only had two schools looking at me, Corpus Christi-A&M and Louisiana Lafayette,” she continues. “I took a visit to both and liked Louisiana Lafayette and committed in October of my junior year.”

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Struggles… and Success Again

She was poised to continue her success in the circle for the Rajun Cajuns in the spring of 2012… or so she thought.

The success that came so easy in high school never came in college as she feels her pitching form was off and her confidence was shaken. The Texas teenager only pitched 1.2 innings her freshman year, allowing two hits and a bloated 4.20 ERA.

So what went wrong?

“It wasn’t the right fit for me,” she says simply. “I got there and my form wasn’t the way they wanted it to be and I had to make some changes that affected my pitching. I tried to do what was asked of me and it wasn’t working.”

It was the lowest point of her athletic career and Ham admits she was ready to give up the sport she loved.

“I was going to just quit when my travel ball coach called and told me about a community college in Kansas that would be a good fit for me. I took a visit to the school (Butler Community College in El Dorado, Kan.) and it felt right.”

She felt she didn’t have anything to lose and could bail out easily if she wanted.

“The thing that appealed to me was it would be just a one year commitment and I thought I could be done if I didn’t like it. I decided to take a chance and am very glad I did—it was a good decision for me.”

This spring, everything came together for the pitcher and the success she enjoyed in high school came back big-time.

As a sophomore at Butler Community College, Ham went 30-3 with a 1.55 ERA and averaged over 11 strikeouts per game.

“It was a little hard at first,” she says looking back over the last year at Butler. “Having sat out a year, basically, I had lost confidence in my ability to pitch, but the coaches continued to push me and I’m the kind of person that puts more pressure on me than they can. I gave it everything I had and got results.”

Ham was named a NJCAA Div. I 1st team All-American and helped the Grizzlies finish with the most successful season in school history: a 54-4 record, the District E title and a fourth place finish in the Div. I tournament.

The key, she felt, was her confidence was back in large part to the close relationship she had with her Butler teammates and coaches.

“My teammates and I were very close,” she explains. “Like any family, you have your fights but at the end of the day you have each others’ backs. I felt like I could talk to my teammates and my coaches and if I was struggling, be it emotionally or spiritually, there would be someone I could talk to.”

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On to Oklahoma

One of the Butler coaches, Jeff Filali, has deep Oklahoma ties—he has been the driving force behind the Tulsa Elite club program, for example—and he recommended Ham to the Sooners, sending video of her pitching.

Oklahoma Head Coach Patty Gasso and her staff liked what they saw from the Butler highlights as well as how the pitcher presented herself in interviews. The Sooners came on strong and beat out other programs like Tulsa and Kansas.

“Oklahoma knew my story and was familiar with my struggles, but liked how I was kind of the underdog and kept ‘keeping on’ despite everything. They told me they liked how I had good movement on the ball and said I could only get better from there.”

“We believe that Maggie will really help solidify this pitching staff,” said Gasso when Ham was signed this summer.

“She can throw the ball hard, but also move the ball around. She will throw it as hard as anyone on staff, and I think she’ll be very good. Maggie’s a focused competitor that has the drive to be great and we’re really excited to have her.”

Today, Ham is practicing with the National Champions and trying to fill the shoes of no less than the National Player of the Year the last two seasons, Keilani Ricketts.

It won’t be easy, either, to get playing time as OU has six pitchers currently on staff. Despite the obvious competition, Ham sees the large roster of hurlers as a positive.

“It’s pretty good we have all the pitchers we do, it gives you a wide variety of styles and if one is having an off day, we have others to get the job done.”

“The good thing about Coach Gasso,” Ham continues, “is you have to work hard and earn your spot. She wants to win and even if I had a good year at a Juco or if I’m one of the pitchers who’s been in the program a while, she’ll put out on the field whoever gives us the best chance to win.”

One major draw that attracted Ham to the Big 12 school is the feeling of family she gets within the softball program which was similar to her experiences at Butler.

“I feel like Coach Gasso is very positive and always wants to help you,” Ham states, “whether you’re having a good day or a bad day. Anything she can do to help you, to become a better player or a better winner, she’s willing to do. The girls are fun and supportive. They want you to succeed—on the field they all want to play, of course—but we all care about each other individually and as a group want to do what will help the team win.”

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Two Major Benefits

No matter what her time at Oklahoma produces between the lines, Ham feels like her journey to get there—as tough as it was to go through at the time—has made her a better person.

“I feel like it’s taught me that either way you go—straight to a four year school or through the different levels like I did—you’re going to face adversity. As you get older and have more responsibility, you have to make decisions on your own. I was far away from my family and had to make decisions that would help me have a good life.”

She also believes that two major benefits have come out of this: she’s grown stronger in her spirituality and has learned to rely and trust more in others.

“When I was struggling I was young and had to learn that God has a plan and He’s there for me and won’t give me anything I can’t handle. The No. 1 thing these ups and downs have taught me is to strengthen my relationship with God and trust in the process and in His plan.”

“Life keeps going and I know I can’t feel sorry for myself. There are plenty of others who have worse situations and many who’d love to be in my position. I’ve also learned to be positive, that it’ll be all right.”

“I’ve always been an independent person and learned that there’s always someone there that can help. I’ve had to learn to depend on people and lean on my resources. Everybody needs someone to depend on, be it friends or God or family.”

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Advice to the Young

So what advice does the pitcher give for young players now that she’s prepping for Big 12 competition?

“As far as recruiting goes,” Ham advises younger players, “do your research, go on multiple visits and learn how the process works. When you feel it’s right in your heart, then go for it. If not, continue doing research and digging. Talk to past players and look at everything—the success rate, the quitting rate—and find which program fits you as well as if you’re a fit for them.”

She stresses that there will be times when players want to throw in the towel—“I was there,” she admits—but there’s a reward for those who persevere.

“There are always those who will try to bring you down, but as long as you keep battling you’re going to come out stronger in the end.”

“I had my thoughts of giving up,” the pitcher concedes, “and there were always those days when I wondered if it was worth it. Just keep fighting and praying about it. On a day-to-day basis, have a relationship with God and after a while you’ll realize what you need to do.”

“Keep fighting and don’t give up—you are only young once and only have so many years to play so enjoy it while you can.”