With the cancellation of all collegiate sports in North America, a Division-1 softball player from Regina is feeling the effects of losing her senior season.

Brooke Boechler was a catcher for the Jackson State University softball program for the 2019 and 2020 seasons, but may have seen her career come to an end due to the COVID-19 pandemic that has cancelled or suspended play in all sports leagues across North America.

Joining Derek Taylor on 620 CKRM’s the Sportscage, Boechler said her softball career flashed before her eyes.

“Just before then in the locker room, we were like ‘yeah, that’ll happen down the road,’ or like ‘that won’t happen,’” Boechler said. “All of a sudden, 24 hours later, it happened, and it happened so quick and all of a sudden.”

In her senior season, Boechler hit a .310 batting average, with five extra-base hits, 10 RBI and two walks in 29 at-bats. Behind the plate, Boechler held a perfect fielding percentage, and caught two runners stealing.

Boechler said this impacts goals she had for after her time with Jackson State.

“I kind of wanted to work towards being on team Canada and work towards the Olympics, so that senior season was a big one for me,” Boechler said. “It’s been pretty heart-breaking, but it almost also fuels my fire that if I get another opportunity, I can have this whole off-season to work as hard as I can and just come back better and stronger.”

While the NCAA is allowing seniors back for one more season, Boechler says that might not help her and her fellow seniors at JSU.

“It really just comes down to the school itself as there are recruits coming in,” Boechler said. “We have 10 seniors leaving, so they have 10 more recruits coming in to replace us, so that money’s already dispersed to them, so it depends.

“Of course our coach wants us back, but if they have money for us is the question, to get our scholarships back.”

Boechler says while this does set back plans she had for her professional life, she believes there’s only so many opportunities to come back to the diamond, so she would absolutely come back to Jackson State if she had a second chance.