There’s no end to the softball connections in the game of Major League Baseball. The proverbial “brother” to the sport of softball, there are brother-sister relationships, father-daughter, and even husband-wife tie-ins that intertwine throughout the two sports.
Need an example? Look no further than George Springer, the newly-minted World Series Most Valuable Player. The Houston Astros’ young star tied an all-time record with five home runs in his team’s seven-game ascent to the World Series trophy, but he is not the only member of the Springer family that has seen success on the diamond.
Springer’s sister Nicole, a 2013 graduate at Central Connecticut State, began her career at Hartford and earned first-team all-America East Conference and all-rookie honors in her freshman season. She also earned first-team all-conference honors in her sophomore campaign before moving on to CCSU. Nicole again earned all-conference honors at her new school and was a part of Central Connecticut’s first-ever NCAA tournament team, helping the squad to the Northeast Conference tournament championship and first-ever berth in the Regional round of the NCAA tournament in 2013.
Younger sister Lena Springer manned the circle for the Ohio State Buckeyes from 2015-17. She, like her older sister, also began her career at one school before finishing it at another; after a single season at UCF in 2014 that saw her get her own taste of the NCAA postseason, Lena transferred to become a Buckeye and three solid seasons in the circle for the Buckeyes. Lena Springer was Kelly Kovach Schoenly’s second-most-used pitcher in both 2016 and 2017, and turned in an ERA under 3.00 in each season. She led the Buckeye pitchers with a staff-best 2.72 ERA in 2016, her junior season, and reached the postseason in each of her last two years in the scarlet and grey.
The three siblings aren’t the only ones who can claim a trophy case filled with awards from the diamond – Springer’s fiancée Charlise Castro, who he is scheduled to wed in mid-January 2018, has a lengthy resume in her own right.
Castro began her own career at Maryland-Eastern Shore and earned MEAC Rookie of the Year and first-team all-conference honors. She led the conference in a trio of statistical categories, including home runs (13) and slugging percentage (.810) and paced her team in nearly every offensive category.
After transferring to Albany in the America East conference – where she barely missed out on competing against Nicole Springer – Castro earned all-region first-team honors and led the AEast in each of the “Triple Crown” categories, home runs, RBIs, and batting average.
In her senior season, Castro helped lead her team to the NCAA tournament via the conference tournament championship and was named to the all-regional team made up of competitors in the Eugene regional.
Holiday pickup games are sure to be fun at the Springer household. And with the members of this talented family for a roster, it may be the only backyard game in history that demands media coverage.
