By the Goodness of God - Moriah Hoshowski

Hey guys, I'm actually speaking today. It's not an April Fool's So like Sean said, my name is Mariah Hashawski and I am a junior transfer here at York University I am in from Oregon obviously, so it's like a long ways from York, Nebraska A common question that I get is how did you end up here at York? well A simple answer is because it's softball, but a more complex answer would be because we're by the goodness of God For the rest of this talk, I would like to go over the process in which it I'd go through in order to get here at York So During my senior year of high school and here are some like photos of me signing In my family in the back on the left photo I committed to a junior college in More middle northern California It was I won't say the name of the college for many reasons, but However, it was a very competitive junior college When I signed to the to the junior college they were ranked number one in the state and I don't know what they are ranked nationally But very competitive program The reason why I chose to go down the junior college route was because I was really uncertain About what I wanted to do with my future and what I wanted to major in in such So that was like the best option for me and I felt the most comfortable doing that From the outside looking in the school is very impressive. I mean the softball program was really impressive and The school had a very good education It looked amazing. However my experience of the school was much less than amazing I'll not go into a whole lot of details, but what I will say is that myself and a lot of other athletes were mentally emotionally and verbally Abused by the head softball coach there at my school that I went to It was extremely unexpected for me because when I went to the school. I was really excited to play fortunately the Coach the head coach of the program does not coach there anymore She got let go along with athletic director at this college And there's a whole investigation done and so after my freshman year the coach and athletic director were no longer at the school At the end of my freshman year, I decided to leave the school obviously And I debated whether I wanted to play softball at all anymore I walked in as a bright-eyed freshman, but then walked away from the school completely drained and defeated I but throughout my freshman year I continued to pray for guidance and I actually continued to pray for the team that was currently on I Proid pray for a team that would appreciate and You know essentially love what I had to offer for the team And it is hard to look back at what I went through, but And especially my trusting God was so weary then However, the story does get better guys. Um, I As I was about to hang up my cleats um, I had an old teammate who I played with throughout high school throughout travel ball and so on Q Shaila So um, these are some great photos that I chose for this but anyway, so Shaila messaged me after everything happened and what happened at my freshman year's school was pretty known Nationally actually like since it was a pretty big program A lot of people knew about it in the softball community so um She messaged me and she was like like no like what are you gonna do? And I was like well I was planning to just quitting softball together, but um So she didn't take no for an answer. I mean she knew how much I loved softball and she knew that I Wanted deep down. I wanted she continued to play so um she was like okay mo like you should really come and join My college or be a part of my college that I'm currently at and I was like no like it's not worth it But anyway, so she convinced me to email the coach at that school and um his name is coach John um, he is at first user I hesitant since I um The my freshman year coach was saying how How bad of an athlete I was and horrible things that um were not true um, but John is known for taking on misfits as you could say So um I went into the program obviously and um and I'll show you some pictures of um team last year, but Anyway, um as my sophomore year of college went on and the 2023 2024 softball season continued um The coaches staff friends teammates were able to Um, help me heal from what I went through my freshman year and also help help me find the joy of the game again um I have this little quote here and it says the Lord has shown me the deepest and darkest of places But he has also shown me love. He sent me people to teach me and he sent me people to heal me um, the coaches um, that's his using teammates help him become a better athlete and a better person Um, and I'm forever grateful for that um, I was able to become everything um That my freshman year coaches Believe that I could never achieve and things that I could never become um everything that I was able to do um I honestly it wasn't even me like I could say that I did my part and I put in the work and all of this and that but ultimately I mean it was all God. I mean I wouldn't have the abilities that I do have today without him and um, I think it'd be You know very wrong of me just to say like oh, yeah, I brought myself to this point and I in this and that but Um, I wouldn't I would be none of this if it wasn't if it wasn't for God Um, God let me hear to York with the help of everyone who's been in my life prior to coming here Um, I have this other quote it says sometimes God will destroy our plans when he sees that our plans are going to destroy us um, I was planning to Walk into my freshman year of my freshman year school and um, accomplish all these things and and we have a happy College experience, but obviously that wasn't in God's plan and um, and I was really defeated by that but then I was blessed with this opportunity and I was able to play at a school that Was everything that I prayed for it more Um, even when I was in my darkest times during my freshman year. He still was working He heard my prayers and managed to answer them the Lord reminded me to trust him and be patient He showed me that good things come come from hurt That experience with my last two years of school before I transfer in here plus what he's done what he's done With me this year so far has shown me that of what all the goodness of God is about