BURNABY, BC – A lot can change in the span of 15 months, and for softball seniors Amanda Janes and Kate Fergusson, stars on the diamond and in the classroom, that means moving forward with life and moving on from SFU.
 
As much as both student-athletes would love to continue playing with teammates for one more softball season, it is time to pursue other interests.  Janes has been accepted into dental school and will be continuing to work towards becoming an orthodontist. Fergusson wants to go into nursing.
 
"I will miss seeing my teammates succeed and watching all of their hard work from the off-season pay-off," said Janes. "I will miss the countless hours spent on the field, in the gym, and in the BOG working out with my teammates bettering ourselves every single day. I will miss the long travel days, the bus rides, and the opportunity to travel to places I've never been before. I will miss the excitement for gamedays, the late nights in study hall and the hours spent in the dining hall.
 
"It's definitely going to be hard tackling this next journey of my life without my teammates, but I am so thankful for all of the amazing memories and lessons they've taught me over these last five years."
 
Fergusson echoed those sentiments while pointing to the team's trip to Australia in 2018 as a personal highlight. On the diamond, both players experienced the high of competing for the GNAC Championship in 2018, taking an underdog SFU team to within one win of the NCAA tournament.
 
A four-year starter and four-time GNAC All-Academic team honouree, Janes will be remembered as someone her teammates could look to for support, whether on the softball field or in the classroom, and as someone who truly loved every moment with teammates. 

The power-hitting catcher had 12 career home runs and a career .430 slugging percentage while completing a degree in Health Sciences.
 
Fergusson, who is receiving a degree in Biological Sciences, was as hard working on the field as she was in the classroom, leading by example and always supporting teammates. She started every game she played, batted .325, and was three times selected to the GNAC All-Academic team. Fergusson was also Simon Fraser's 2019 Female Freshman of the Year recipient.  
 
Janes and Fergusson last played in a competitive softball game on March 8, 2020, back when SFU was 13-5 overall under new head coach Tina Andreana and leading the Great Northwest Athletic Conference with a 7-1 record. The softball program essentially lost two seasons to COVID-19.
 
Janes hopes student-athletes appreciate every moment "because you never know when the game can be taken away from you."
 
She offered this advice to the incoming freshmen: "There will be rough days – maybe you made a couple of errors at practice, maybe you struggled in the bullpen, maybe you did poorly on an important midterm – and that is okay! Freshman year is not meant to be easy, but it is how you respond to these challenges and struggles that determines the kind of player and person you are going to become. Tackle these challenges with a positive mindset and know that you will get through it, and when you do, it'll be so rewarding."
 
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