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Following her hip surgery, the doctor performing the surgery suggested Freeman discontinue her softball career and pursue something else. After her ACL injury, doctors urged Freeman to stop playing altogether.

“The physical strain of catching day in day out is extremely challenging – more so than any other position in my opinion – but the mental strain is enormous,” said Casey Myers, former softball volunteer assistant coach and two-time Pac-10 Player of the Year in baseball. “The catcher has more responsibility than other defensive positions, a true field general. Add to the mix the mental and physical strain of your offensive game. Put it all together over a fall and spring season at the highest level of competition, and I would say the strain on mind and body is tremendous.”

Freeman could’ve stopped. But she didn’t.

When she finally arrived on campus at ASU, she was “whipped” into shape by Myers and former catcher Kaylyn Castillo while also adjusting to a pitcher fresh off winning a national championship in Dallas Escobedo.

ASU Softball Catcher, Amber Freeman (pic- ASU)

“At ASU there is no room for complacency,” Castillo said. “You may be good, but is that as good as you can be? You can always be better, always go harder. Don’t be satisfied and really be the leader out their on the field because everyone is going to look to you to guide the ship.”

Freeman can’t remember a time she’s ever worked harder.

“After Castillo graduated,” Escobedo said. “I was worried that I wouldn’t have that same leadership that she provided me with during my freshman year, but Amber fit to me right away. We clicked and working on the Junior National Team for Team USA definitely helped us bond and we were inseparable for the rest of my career.”

Team USA & Sun Devils Amber Freeman and Dallas Escopido

She concluded her freshman campaign with a .346 average and 41 RBI. In the Women’s College World Series Freeman shined though, posting a team-best .370 average to go along with two home runs and six RBI through more pain.

Shortly after the season ended, Freeman learned she needed her knee scoped and cleaned out. But that didn’t slow her down either.

That sophomore season was one to remember. She was named Pac-12 Softball Player of the Year, a First-Team All-Conference selection, a First-Team All-American and an NFCA All-Region First Teamer after finishing the season with a .361 batting average, 18 home runs and 61 RBI.

“She just has this fire and competitiveness that eclipses all else, she has an ability to lead by example and the desire to win and be the best – all those are characteristics of the best and of Amber,” Myers said.

But the end of her junior season represented another test for Freeman.

In the double-elimination NCAA Regional, Arizona State met Michigan, needing just one win to advance to Super Regionals.

The first-game was a wrenching, 4-3 loss for Freeman and the Sun Devils. Game two was a back-and-forth game that entered the bottom half of the seventh with ASU trailing 5-4 and the top of the order due up.

After senior Alix Johnson reached on an infield single and a pop out from Cheyenne Coyle, Freeman came into the box with two outs and the game on the line.

“[Hayley] Wagner had owned us for three games then, we weren’t able to adjust to her.” Freeman said. “You talk about seeing someone that many times and not being able to adjust as a team, it’s the most frustrating thing about it.

“I remember walking up to the box and thinking that she had been busting me inside with curveballs all weekend. I just wanted to jump on it and get my barrel to it. At least get Haley [Steele] to the plate. Simple.”

Freeman guessed right. Wagner threw a curveball inside, just as she’d predicted and Freeman attacked it, launching into deep-center field.

Freeman remembers running to first base thinking she may have got all of that one. That she may have won the game.

And then, the unfathomable happened, Michigan center fielder Lindsay Doyle leaped high, her glove and wrist disappearing over the center field wall. When she came down, she held the ball up. She had just robbed Freeman of what would have been a game-winning, two-run home run.

“I stopped for a minute and just thought, ‘She did not just catch that there’s no way.’  And then their team was jumping up and down beside me and then I felt it. The heartbreak. The devastation. I hope I never feel that way again.”

Entering her senior season, she has one more chance to win – and to overcome yet another injury. During the summer, while playing for Team USA, she broke her right foot.

That’s not about to stop her though.

For the first time since 2009, the Sun Devil softball squad will be without a pitcher with NCAA postseason experience, but Freeman and her fellow seniors – Bethany Kemp, Haley Steele, Sierra Rodriguez and Elizabeth Caporuscio- aren’t about to let low expectations get in their way. For the first time since…”

Photo- ASU

“Hopefully big things are coming, but we’re young and we have a really young pitching staff. I just want to be a leader and an example for them to follow,” Freeman said. “I want them [freshmen pitchers Dale Ryndak and Breanna Macha] to know that I have their back, and that most importantly we don’t expect much of a production drop-off.”  

Currently Freeman leads the team with a .472 average and 22 total bases, to go along with three home runs and 15 RBI. Those three home runs also put Freeman in sole possession of third-place in ASU softball history with 43 career long balls.

So what’s in store for the rest of Amber Freeman’s 2015?

“If her first three years are any indication,” Casey Myers said. “Something pretty special.”

And what a start of something special it has been.

Because the great ones, they let nothing stand in their way.

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