NORFOLK, Va. – The abrupt end to the remainder of the 2020 NCAA spring sports season around the country has hit especially hard for senior student-athletes, who do not know if they will have the opportunity to resume their collegiate careers.
Over the coming weeks and months, NSU Athletics is highlighting a number of these student-athletes who have been integral members of their sports programs, on and off the fields of competition.
Keira Randolph is a redshirt senior utility player on the NSU softball team from North Chesterfield, Virginia. She walked onto the team prior to the 2017 season and has played in 48 games as a Spartan since that time. Randolph appeared in 28 games and made five starts in 2018, scoring seven runs and recording a .314 on-base percentage. Randolph hit an RBI single earlier this year against Hartford.
Randolph, who expects to graduate in May, will pursue further education and thus has completed her softball career as a Spartan. Read more about her below in our Senior Spartan Spotlight:
Q: What made you choose Norfolk State?
A: I chose Norfolk State University for the academics and for the family environment that I felt when I came on a visit in 2015. My dad was also a student-athlete while he was at NSU and he also encouraged the school because he could see the growth that the school had made since his attendance. I also wanted a school that I loved that had great academics, made me feel at home and that also had a softball program if I decided to play.
Q: What is the hardest part about being a walk-on at the Division I level?
A: The hardest thing was keeping a positive attitude and having the determination to keep going. When you walk on you have a hard time proving yourself worthy of being on the team and on the field. Sometimes when you don't play it makes you think you aren't good enough to even be there with some of your teammates. It takes a lot of positive thinking and determination to even make it past your first year.
Q: What has been your favorite memory as a Spartan?
A: My favorite memory wasn't really a memory, it was more of the bonds and relationships that I created with some of my teammates and the friends I have outside of softball. These friendships and bonds that I have created in my five years as a student and a student-athlete will last me my entire life and I'm more than grateful to have them with me.
Q: You've been very involved in extra-curricular activities and clubs at NSU. Tell us about those, and what have they meant to you?
A: When I first came to NSU (in the fall of 2015), I didn't have plans of playing softball, so I knew I had to get involved somewhere. I took the advice of one of the admissions counselors, Mr. Hopkins, when he said, "don't be a stale piece of toast." I didn't want to be that. The first organization I joined was the Student Ambassadors, which meant I aided in the arrival of new students, new student orientation, Open House and giving tours three or four times a week to large groups of students. It was the most fun I had, and it was where I met the groups of friends I hang out with to this day. My other organization was NCNW which is Nation Council for Negro Women which was founded in 1935 to advance opportunities and life for African-American women and their families. I was a part of the founding group here at NSU during the fall 2018 semester.
Q: What is the hardest part about not being able to play the rest of this season?
A: The hardest part is not being able to have our senior day and have the happy goodbye to the end of my softball career. It kind of leaves a bitter taste in your mouth knowing that it ended that way and there isn't anything you can do about it.
Q: What do you love most about playing softball?
A: What I love most is being able to go out to games and have fun with my teammates. The energy that some of them bring to the field makes us come closer and bond together to all achieve the one common goal of winning games.
Q: What is your major and what would you like to do with it after graduation?
A: I am a biology/pre-professional major and I have plans of pursuing dental school once I graduate. My ultimate goal is to become an orthodontist and help make people feel better about themselves through their smiles.
