Bowers resilience leads to huge accomplishment and impact for Saints

ST. JAMES, Minn. (KEYC) -St. James Area senior pitcher Addie Bowers did what most couldn’t do by eclipsing the 800 strikeout milestone this season despite suffering some injuries along the way.

“It feels super rewarding,” Bowers said. “I’ve had not a tough year but it’s definitely been tougher than previous years due to my injury. But achieving that, it just felt great and to have a bunch of supportive teammates behind me that supports me the whole way, it feels great.”

The road to recovery was not easy for Bowers. Once the senior got back on the field, everything came full circle.

“I’m constantly battling arm injuries, soreness and all of that,” said Bowers. “Finally just playing a hard game and winning or coming back from behind and just putting up a bunch of runs against a good team, you know? It just feels great. I missed out on my freshman season because of covid, so I never thought I would achieve something that big. I guess I never really kept track of it either so it just came up by surprise. I mean I found out the week before that I was two strikeouts away and I was like, ‘Wow, that’s really cool.’ I guess I never really thought that would happen but it’s awesome that it did.”

Bowers impact goes beyond the dugout.

“Obviously, you know she’s talented off the field too,” said head coach Sam Baumgartner. “She does so much for our program, as a whole. The kids that look up to her, the younger players, she has inspired them. She’s so good at interacting with them. She’s so good with our kids and program overall. She’s really a one of a kind kid that doesn’t come around very often and we’ve been very fortunate to have her as apart of our program.”

Bowers will play at NCAA Division-I North Dakota State next season.

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