2016-17 Girls’ Athlete of the Year: Sammy Fabian speeds to greatness
Long before Sammy Fabian put her fleet feet upon the Glendale High softball diamond in the spring of 2014, the diminutive dynamo had already begun building a reputation locally and beyond.
As a freshman, she would join the likes of Alex Howard and Jordan Lousararian, longtime Little League teammates who found success together seemingly every summer, as Nitros looking to resurrect a program that had long been absent of the postseason.
Glendale became a player in the Pacific League and made the postseason three of the four years that “Smiling” Sammy’s ear-to-ear grin and hitting prowess highlighted Nitros games.
Famously, she began her storied Glendale days with a 61-game hitting streak, becoming the little hitting engine that could, sprinting out base hits to second base and thrilling crowds and frightening outfielders with line drives to the gap that saw her run and run and run.
Through four seasons of spectacular, she was an All-Area selection, capping her tenure with the 2017 All-Area Softball Player of the Year honor to go along with accolades through the seasons that included Cal-Hi Sports All-State, Maxpreps All-American, All-Pacific League and All-CIF Southern Section.
In her final phenomenal campaign, she hit .573 with 47 hits, 22 runs batted in, 36 runs and 21 stolen bases.
Across four unbelievable years, she totaled an amazing .623 average with 184 hits, 146 runs, 82 runs batted in, 56 extra-base hits (28 doubles, 20 triples, eight home runs) and 83 stolen bases.
And though the official end came with a CIF Southern Section Division III first-round loss at Los Altos in the spring, it was a 13-12 extra-inning, walk-off win in a wild card game against Carter at Glendale High that was the lasting image. On the strength of a Tiffany Bartamian walk-off single, Fabian raced around the bases to score a historic winning run for the Nitros, giving them their first postseason win of the century.
Having left her mark as one of the greatest softball players in area chronicle, Fabian will take her trademark grin, speed and hitting to the University of California Santa Barbara.
On a sweltering Tuesday afternoon, looking out onto the Glendale High softball field that she called home for four seasons, Fabian sat down with Glendale News-Press sports editor Grant Gordon, who has covered Fabian since her Little League days when she was often the smallest girl on the field, but still left a big impression that has grown and will no doubt long be regarded in area lore.
Here are excerpts from the interview.
Grant Gordon: One of the things you’re known for is how fast you are. It’s been four years; here you are a Glendale High graduate going to UCSB. A lot of people look back and they’re like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe how fast it went.’ But for four years you were on varsity and you were very good. Do you look back and think how fast things went or did everything go along as you thought it would?
Sammy Fabian: I do look back and see how fast it went. It’s just very surreal just thinking that high school, that entire phase of my life is over. I always knew throughout the school year that once the season was going to start, then the year would flow by really, really quickly. Every year, I just looked back and went ‘wow,’ that was fast and so I would be like ‘wow,’ I can’t wait until I graduate and now that time has finally come and it’s just very crazy to think of how fast it went by. And now I’m going to college and I won’t be playing here in the spring again. So it did go by very fast; it’s pretty crazy.
GG: How old were you when you first played softball and was it something that you liked immediately and was it something you were at good at immediately?
SF: I think I was 6 when I started playing. It was a little bit of both. I really did enjoy playing, it was just a lot of fun. I loved running around on the field, being able to pitch or go play shortstop or go play any position, so that was really fun. And hitting also was really fun. And I was also pretty good at it for being so young and so, just because I was, you know, pretty decent at playing, it just made it that much more enjoyable to play.
GG: I remember you saying you made the school tennis team as a freshman. What sports have you played and what ultimately led to you making the decision that you were going to concentrate solely on softball.
SF: When I was younger, I remember I took one or two ballet classes. But then I was like, no I can’t do this. I really did not like it. I also used to do gymnastics, which was really, really fun, but I broke my arm, so I stopped doing it. I used to also play golf; my dad got me into that. But I stopped doing that and I went over to tennis. This was all while I was doing softball. Tennis was fun, but I never really had that team feel that I do for softball, which is one of the biggest things I love about it that I have not only myself versus the other player, but I have a whole group of girls behind me. I was playing tennis and I just didn’t really love it like I love playing softball. I decided to stop playing because it was interfering with softball – being able to go to my travel team’s practices and the games. So it was freshman year where I was like softball is my priority, I shouldn’t be focusing on tennis anymore.
GG: One thing I’ve always said to people is, ‘Hey she would’ve been awesome at track with how fast she is.’ How much has speed always been a part of your game and is it something you work on and how can you work on speed as a softball player?
SF: It’s always been a really big asset for me. When I was younger, I was smaller and just really, really speedy. So that was one of the main reasons why I became a slapper was because of my speed, it’s such a great tool. I do practice it a lot. I go to a bunch of different training facilities and I come to the track here also with my dad and we do sprints on the football field and a bunch of agility work. It’s something that I’m constantly working on and always trying to get to that magical 2.6 or 2.7 time from home to first.
GG: You’ve always been on the smaller end, too, but that’s never really been a detriment for you, has it?
SF: Not really. The only thing is trying to reach something up high. No, it’s always just been good for me in the softball sense, being small, able to move quickly, able to just get from one spot to the other really fast, so it’s always been a good thing for me.
GG: How much do you enjoy softball and how much do you practice it, how much a part of your life is it?
SF: Softball is my life basically. Everything revolves around it, I would say. Now that travel ball has stopped just this past week, I’ve had a little more time, so I’m like ‘OK, what am I supposed to do?’ It’s been just about every day almost I’m doing something; whether it’s going out and practicing with my team or practicing with my dad, actually playing games. It’s I would say 80% practice and actually 20% playing. We have to book vacations around my tournaments and figure out when we’d be able to go to family events. Because I have softball, I’ve missed a lot of things, but it’s really helped in the long run. I’ve been able to get a scholarship to go to college to play, so everything’s been worth all the time.
GG: If someone were to ask me about you, I would say the three characteristics that stand out the most are your hitting, your speed and your smile. You’re always smiling. Are you just always happy on the softball field, what’s the story behind the smile? Is that just who you are or are you just happy to be there?
SF: It’s basically just who I am. Just being raised by my mom and my dad, being around family all the time, just trying to make the best of everything. If you’re gonna be doing something, why complain about it, why make it so miserable when you can use that time wisely? So I always try to just have an optimistic view on everything.
GG: How gratifying was your senior year? As we’ve spoken about, obviously you were close with Jordan and Alex , but you were left in a leadership position that you and Tiffany kind of took on. Did it bring anything out in you that you didn’t know was there? What was your senior like for you?
SF: My senior year was, it was really great. It was a lot of fun. Not only all the senior activities, but also playing. This was the best season we’ve had since a really, really long time. … We had two CIF games, so that was huge. It was just a lot of fun. It really brought out a big leadership role for me, because I’ve always kind of been one to go with it and not lead by voice, but lead by example. This past year, I kind of led the team with my words, because I knew how much they actually listened to me and how much they valued my opinions. So I was like, wow, I can really help people with this. It definitely brought that out of me and an even more optimistic side. Not to be a Debbie Downer if we’re losing, because everyone wants somebody to look at be like, ‘OK we got this, we can do it.’ So, every single game, I tried to be that person.
GG: But you know you kind of have to put the smiles of yesterday behind you and you’re looking forward to UCSB now. Are you excited, are you nervous, a little bit of both?
SF: I’m mostly excited more than nervous, I would say. I just recently went to my orientation and I got to talk to a lot of the people who are going there, I got to work out a schedule and I met the team a couple of months back, too. Everything, it’s overwhelming, for sure, but I’m just really excited to see what this new chapter has for me. Just being able to not only juggle college softball, but school, figure out what I want to do with my life, what I want to become. I do, of course, have nerves; I’m not sure how I’m going to be able to handle everything. But I’m mostly just excited for everything to come. I’m really looking forward to it.
GG: That said, obviously you have a bright future. But looking back, are there people that stick out that you’re thankful for what they’ve done for you and how they’ve helped you get to where you are now?
SF: Oh yeah, for sure. I’ve said this name a lot, but Sarah Larquier, she’s been like my role model, my second mom, basically. She’s really helped me; she’s gotten me to where I am today. If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t be a slapper, I wouldn’t be as softball savvy as I am and I wouldn’t be as determined. She really helped me figure out what I wanted to become with softball, so she’s had one of the largest, strongest impacts of my life. Also cliché, but my parents. They’ve helped me so much through everything, just supporting me with everything, driving me to Simi Valley every other day for my four-hour practices. Just being that huge support system, even when I’ve had a bad day and I don’t want to talk to anybody, they’re always there to make me smile again, just make me happy, so they’ve been such a huge, huge help. Let’s see, also, my …
GG: You can’t name everyone.
SF: [Laughs] Yeah, I don’t want to leave anybody out. My travel ball coaches for sure: Carlos Gutierrez and Samantha Mallory. Those two have been the biggest help. I came on the team with them five years ago and I was just this even smaller little girl and I didn’t really know a lot of things and they taught me so much. They’ve given me so many opportunities to do something with softball and they’ve helped me really grow, not only as a player, but as a person. They’ve just been one of the biggest helps throughout the way, too. There’s just so many people, in between. I went to a throwing coach, I have my physical therapist, just other family members, Mr. Kohlmeier – Kris Kohlmeier, just so many people have really been there for me that I can’t really put into words how thankful I am, because really without them pushing me to be my best and helping me and giving me such great opportunities, I definitely would not be here today.
GG: And lastly, looking back now at your four seasons at Glendale High, is there any one moment that sticks out as the greatest for you?
SF: I would say, without a doubt, it was the first CIF game we won this past season – the wild card game. It was just so big and everyone was so excited. … We won, 13-12, and that was just the best moment. So many people were out here to watch us: friends, family, other softball girls from like CV or Hoover were there to watch us. Everyone of the girls on the team was just so excited, especially me, as a senior, and Tiffany, we knew that this could be our last high school game. So we came together and we were like, ‘OK, let’s just go out there and let’s just play. Let’s just have fun. If we lose, then we lose, but let’s go down hard and let’s go down enjoying our time together.’ That was the moment where we all came together – a little late in the season – but that was the best moment I would say. … That game was just super intense and everybody contributed, so that I’d say was the best moment for me over the four years.
Twitter: @TCNGrantGordon
