TLU's Haley Padilla named SCAC Character & Community Female Student-Athlete of the Week

 

SEGUIN, Texas -- Texas Lutheran's Haley Padilla, a senior first baseman on the TLU Softball team, has been selected as the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Character & Community Female Student-Athlete of the Week for the week beginning April 5.

The SCAC Character & Community award honors the efforts of student-athletes who excel in the field of athletics and also serve their campus and community.

Padilla, a native of Spring Branch, Texas and a graduate of Smithson Valley High School, will graduate from TLU this May with a bachelor's degree in molecular biology. She plans to get a second bachelor's degree, in communication science, from a different university and then pursue her professional doctorate in the discipline of audiology (AuD).

"Audiology is all about the hearing," said Padilla. "It is fitting people for hearing aids or recommending them for Cochlear Implants."

"Audiology is very important to me. It has been a part of who I am ever since we found out I lost my hearing at the end of first grade, starting second grade. I was diagnosed with hearing loss in both my ears. I am legally deaf in my left ear and have severe hearing loss in my right. I have been with hearing aids from then on."

Padilla wants to help people, particularly children, when a diagnosis of hearing loss impacts their lives.

"I want to be a role model for kids and be like, 'No, it's okay. It's okay for something to be wrong with you. It's okay to have a disability, and you can still learn from it and still go through life and do what you want to do and pursue whatever you want to pursue.'"

"I also want to be able to relate to people because I felt that I was never understood as a kid. They wanted me to wear my hearing aids, but I didn't want to because kids are mean, right. I want to be like, 'It's okay. Everything is going to be okay.' And I never got that from my audiologist when I was growing up, so that's what I want to be for those kids."

Padilla, a reader of lips, admits that the COVID-19 pandemic has made communicating a little more difficult.

"So with the masks it is kind of hard," said Padilla. "But really it was kind of awesome because I had to rely on myself and rely on my hearing aids and just had to rely on myself that I could get through this. I found out that I could rely on my hearing, what I have, and the technology that I have been given and be able to listen to people and actually listen and pay attention. It's been a little struggle, but we are getting through it."

Padilla is a four-year member of the TLU Softball team, and she is quick to credit her teammates and coaches for the success she has had as a Bulldog.

"My teammates have been supporters in me since my freshman year," said Padilla. "Coach Wilson, you know he forgets, and so it's funny. He will be yelling across the field, and I just go do my own thing. And (my teammates) are like, 'Coach Wilson, she really can't hear you.' And he's like, 'I always forget.' But I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. It's been awesome here."

In Friday's doubleheader sweep of Schreiner, Padilla hit her 17th career home run as a Bulldog. That home run made Padilla the all-time home run leader in TLU Softball history. Her home run record adds to the long list of team accomplishments that Padilla and the Bulldogs have garnered. Chief among those accomplishments is the 2019 NCAA Division III Softball Championship won by the Bulldogs.

"The national title, oh man I still get goose bumps to this day, it was a dream come true really," said Padilla. "And just doing it with the people that I absolutely adore and absolutely love and respect was just amazing. And setting the home run record, I never even thought about doing that when I got here. Just it happening was just amazing. I have no words. I didn't think that I could do it, and I did it. It was really awesome, and I didn't even know I was close. But yeah, without the support of my teammates and coaches, it would have never been possible."

Prior to the pandemic, a Padilla home run usually included her signing "clapping" or "cheering" in American Sign Language. Her teammates would join in the signing as Padilla neared home plate.

"I kind of wanted to implement that into our home run tradition with me," said Padilla. "We haven't been able to do it (due to the pandemic), but it is still a part of who I am. It is showing people that you know, it's okay. You can cheer."