The LSU softball team simply cannot function without four specific people. They aren’t players on the roster and they aren’t coaches, either.
Coach Lindsay Leftwich says they are the managers.
Adam Derusha, Claire Ramirez, Ryker Chason and Kailey Carlock all work behind the scenes of the team to complete a long list of items before the team can practice and get ready for game days.
The managers ensure all laundry is done before practice begins and they set up the nets and equipment used for daily practice.
“It’s more time-consuming than one would think,” Derusha said. “Generally, we’re here an hour to two hours before the team gets here to start setting up and get everything ready, and then most of the time we’re here at least an hour after the team. On game days, two of us will stay for three hours after the game ends, so we’re here for about as much as you can be here. We basically live here.”
Derusha, now a senior, has been with the LSU softball team for two years and was a manager at the University of Florida for two years before coming to LSU.
“Every program needs a manager just so that the laundry gets done and things get set up, because there’s a lot of stuff the coaches can’t worry about that we have to take care of,” Derusha said.
The managers balance school while being the glue to how the softball team functions.
Though for Ramirez, Chason and Carlock, their experiences in playing the sport led to doing the behind-the-scenes work.
Chason played fastpitch with the Junior USA Men’s National Team before joining the LSU softball staff in January.
He met Coach Howard Dobson, the assistant coach of the Women’s National Team, who then put Chason in contact with LSU softball coach Beth Torina about working as a manager.
“Most people don’t know that guys play fastpitch,” Chason said. “It’s not a thing here.”
Torina and Dobson offered Chason the chance to come to LSU last year, but he stayed home to coach at a junior college in South Georgia.
“I came on a visit here in November and I really liked the coaches and atmosphere,” Chason said. “That’s the reason I decided to become a manager, because I want to be a coach.”
For Ramirez and Carlock too, being a manager plays a major factor in getting a job after their time at LSU.
“I used to think I wanted to be a coach,” Ramirez said. “I still want to work in the sports industry. [Managing] has taught me some really good life lessons. I work with some great people here. I hope they can be a good contact for me as well.”
Carlock played LSU softball for four years before obtaining a manager position upon her undergraduate graduation.
She went from having her laundry done for her to doing the team’s laundry for them.
“It was a tough transition just because I had stopped playing in general,” she said. “I had to get used to not being on the field, not being in a uniform.”
Carlock came back to LSU after a full-time job offer fell through.
“Coach Beth offered me this position and I couldn’t turn it down,” Carlock said. “She gave me a scholarship for my master’s and I got to hang around for two more years.”
Carlock graduated from LSU with her masters degree in May.
“Things would just not function the way they do,” Carlock said. “I feel that is a pretty important part of the team and the function of it.”
