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The Times Athlete of the Week: Ottawa’s Teagan Darif · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: The Times Athlete of the Week Ottawa's Tigandrriff. Written by J. T. Penalty,
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  This article is being read by an automated voice brought
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  to you by Everlett, capturing two hundred and four out
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  of four hundred and sixty eight votes cast in an
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  online poll. Ottawa Softball's Teagandriff is the Times Athlete of
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  the Week. The Pirates freshman leadoff hitter provided all the
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  offense her team would need to hand Seneca its first
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  loss of the season, hitting two solo homers in a
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  two to one road victory. She went out on a
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  ballot that also included runner up Cassie Walsh, Serena Softball,
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  Lucas Fairball, Ottawa Baseball and Easton McBroom Newark Baseball. Weekly
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  ballots go online Mondays and are accessible via Facebook, The
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  Times Sports and Twitter at J Penalty, with voting going
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  through midday Wednesday. Here is a canda with this week's winner.
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  Do you have any nicknames? How old were you when
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  you started playing softball and what got you into the game?
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  Deif six years old playing t ball. My parents encouraged
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  me to try to play the sport I love. Today,
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  You've had a huge impact on the team this season
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  as a freshman, including taking over the leadoff spot in
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  the batting order. Did you expect to step in and
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  have such a large role on varsity so soon, Dreef.
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  To be honest, no, I wasn't sure how it was
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  going to go, but I was going into the season
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  giving one hundred and ten percent effort and working both
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  in season and off season to not only improve my
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  own skills, but to give everything I could for my team.
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  What are the team's goals for this final stretch of
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  the season in the postseason, Deref. With our hard work
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  and getting a good spot for the postseason, we hope
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  to go all the way this year. We have a
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  very talented group of girls and we are all very close,
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  so we hope to win as much as we can
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  and just be super aggressive and do everything in our
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  power to win the state championship. What are a few
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  of your favorite ball diamonds You've gotten the chance to
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  play on over the years, Deif. Because of my summer
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  softball team, the Beverly Bandits, I get the opportunity to
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  travel all around the country. Some of my favorites are
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  Huntington Beach, California, Kansas City, Missouri and Columbia, Tennessee. What
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  movie would you say you've seen more than any other?
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  About how many times? Deref, I would say I have
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  seen Despicable Me a lot. Even though it's nowhere near
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  my favorite movie, It's always on for some reason. I
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  feel like I have seen the first one around seven times.
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  Which of your teammates cracks you up the most? Derreff?
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  This question was a hard decision. We always try to
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  have a good attitude during softball, but if I had
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  to pick a person on my team, it would be
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  Piper Lewis. Piper is not only my cousin, but a
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  huge role model of mine, and we share a close
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  connection like no other. You and your teammates are going
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  out for dinner to celebrate a big win. What are
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  you going and what are you ordering? Daref. As a team,
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  our favorite food place is probably Fondida. I would order
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  a chicken Quesadia. Seasonal question at a cookout, what's your
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  favorite food off the grill? Daif definitely steak. Steak has
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  always been a favorite food of mine and still is
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  to this day. Is there something about you that people
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  who only know you through sports might find surprising, daref.
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  I'm not as early as I am for softball and
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  everything else. I'm more laid back and just on time
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  for other things. With softball, I make sure i'm around
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  thirty minutes early for warmups. I know it's early, but
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  do you have any plans for after high school yet?
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  Do those plans involve sports? Daif. Since I was a
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  little girl, my dreams have always been to get accepted
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  to play with a Division I softball program. I hope
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  to make it to a high intensity softball college and
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  complete all four years of schooling as well.