×

Perspective from perseverance

Senior stories: MSU walk-on Rebekkah Withouse finds purpose through setbacks

Sean Arbaut/MSU athletics Minot State's Rebekkah Withouse stands in the batter's box during an NCAA Division II softball game played inside the air-supported dome at Herb Parker Stadium.

No guarantees were given when junior college softball transfer Rebekkah Withouse arrived at Minot State. Instead, there was an opportunity that she had to seek out.

“I decided that I was going to try and walk-on to the team,” Withouse said. “I walked into (former MSU head coach) Dave Kivett’s office like the second day of school and said, ‘Hi, I played softball in Williston. Is there any chance I could play for you?'”

Kivett took Withouse up on her offer. The former Williston State College product had talked her way onto a new team.

“I had never been on a team that I didn’t technically have a spot,” Withouse said. “It was nerve-racking. New girls, new team and I had never talked with any of them before. The first week we had a fitness test that I didn’t know about until the day before. So, that was a little concerning. But, I felt confident. I felt like as long as I showcased my abilities and proved to the coach that I was determined. And that I was a good leader, whether on the field or with my new teammates, and showed him that I deserved a spot.”

The setbacks that followed after she earned her place were unrelenting. Despite the struggles and a career .125 batting average (5-for-40) with the Beavers, Withouse moves on from collegiate softball with a positive outlook intact. Happy with the memories she was able to make.

The coach’s daughter

Parental support growing up was paramount for Withouse.

“They were my everything — my rocks,” she said. “They pushed me from when I didn’t think I was going to play as a senior in high school to making it all the way through college. Constantly I always had people who said I wasn’t good enough because I was just the coach’s daughter.”

Her father, Chance, was a multi-sport athlete growing up but vastly enjoyed playing slowpitch softball. Rebekkah followed his footsteps into the batter’s box, and Chance started to coach his daughter up the ranks.

“He really loved coaching me, and we stuck with it together,” she said. “He helped me get into college, so I have to thank him for my entire experience.”

Current MSU softball head coach Nat Wagner added: “She grew up playing for her dad, so I think the game has more importance to her than just playing for a scholarship or something like that. It’s just something that has been a big part of her life.”

Withouse attended Jefferson Academy Charter School in Westminster, Colorado, and played for nearby Pomona High School, where she was a four-sport varsity athlete. In January of her senior season, she made the rather late decision to extend her softball career at Williston State.

The two-year juco stint ended in 2018 with a sour runner-up finish in a regional tournament.

“I knew after that moment that moving on in softball had to be a must because it couldn’t just end like that,” Withouse said. “So, I decided to go to Minot and try to walk-on to the team.”

Her mother, Rachel, encouraged the decision on their drive up to Minot.

The walk-on

After surviving a hardly any notice fitness test, Withouse was off and running with her new team. Then, the first spring practice threw up the first hurdle to overcome as Withouse broke her hand during a diving drill.

“I was out for about six weeks,” she said. “It was a lot of crying, tears, acceptance and thoughts of do I want to get better? Am I going to be ready if my time does come?”

A healed up Withouse eventually did get her chance late in the season through perseverance and an unfortunate turn of events that saw a fellow teammate go down injured. Withouse started both 2019 NSIC Tournament games in left field for the Beavers.

The quick exit in the conference tournament, however, was the final straw in the Kivett era. New head coach Wagner was brought in and new ground rules were put into place.

“(Wagner) told me outright that he wanted me to be a leader,” Withouse said. “He was like, ‘I can’t promise you every minute of playing time, but I can promise you that if you give me the energy, effort and everything else, then we will do well.'”

At the start of this year, before Withouse could truly show her worth once again, she got sick with Influenza A and that eventually turned into Influenza B. The illnesses shut her down for roughly six weeks.

“Whenever she was facing adversity, she didn’t throw a pity party,” Wagner said. “When she had a tough time getting on the field this year, I think it made her miss it that much more. But, she got to step back and maybe realize what she wanted to get out of the game. Now it was more about relationships than it was about results. That was real growth for her. Early on, I think she equated success with playing time. By the end, she was thinking about the game differently. It became about her connections with her teammates.”

Withouse only registered two pinch-hit plate appearances in the 2020 season that was cut short to 16 games due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As much as she wanted to be on the field, Withouse grew to enjoy the profound impact she could have as a mentor.

“The younger girls were like my sisters,” she said. “I just wanted to protect them. I made mistakes during my freshman year, things I wish I could redo. I wanted to show them how to be a student-athlete and make the right choices… Certain people can get a little too cocky in the head and think the world can’t hurt them when they get to the college level. Sadly, that’s not the truth. That’s the biggest thing I wanted to teach them.”

The student

Withouse now turns her attention to finishing her double major in criminal justice and chemistry.

“When I was going into this, I wanted to do four years of softball and five years of school,” she said. “Then this whole COVID stuff came down, and I had to tell Nat (Wagner) that I was expecting four and five and not five and six. I had already pushed off a lot of classes, so it’s going to be a heavy course load.”

Leaving softball behind won’t be easy even though everything didn’t go her way. Withouse still takes with her the fond memories of playful banter and dances in the dugout, plus teammates doing karaoke on long road trips.

“We would put noise-canceling headphones on the freshmen singers, and they had to belt it out for the entire team to hear,” Withouse said. “It was a great way to kick off the season last year. It got everybody comfortable, loose and not afraid. Unfortunately, as a junior transfer coming into Minot, I also had to be up there with the freshmen too. It was a good time.”

For the new student-athletes coming into the program next season, Withouse offered some final guidance.

“Keep your heads up and trust in the process,” she said. “Your season can be taken away from you in a blink of an eye. So take every game, every moment, every practice seriously because it might be your last… I’m always going to be sad about this, but I’m never going to forget the memories and what the game taught me.”

Alex Eisen covers Minot State athletics, the Minot Minotauros and high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @AEisen13.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today