Madison Hadley PZ ’27
Madison Hadley PZ ’27 is a pitcher and outfielder on the P-P softball team, where she competes alongside her twin sister, Victoria Hadley PZ ’27. Hadley attended Pace Academy in Atlanta, Georgia, where she ran track and field in addition to playing softball. She was a National Merit Scholar and was on her high school’s honor roll.
Hadley made her first collegiate appearance on Feb. 10, pitching for 4.2 innings against Vanguard at 1.82 runs per seven, ranking her second on the team in ERA.
“I’ve found people don’t really pay attention to skin color as much during the game,” Hadley said. “If I’m Black and I’m a pitcher and I’m striking people out, I feel like there’s not really more to it than that. Outside of the game that’s where it gets more serious.”
Having only attended PWIs, Hadley said her experience competing for P-P has introduced her to a new sense of community. She said playing with the Sagehens is the first time she has ever competed on a team where she and her twin sister are not the only people of color.
“I grew up and went to a PWI for lower school, middle school and high school,” Hadley said. “It’s been so different for me and I love having another person of color on the team to sort of joke around with, it’s a little bit more comfortable.”
However, she said there is always room for improvement and pushed for the team to focus its DEI initiatives on recruitment.
“It’s definitely weird because we’re only four Black people on a team of 20,” Hadley said. “[The team] definitely supports me when it comes down to playing softball. But if they did recruit more people of color I would definitely be excited.”
Jordan Yates CM ’27
(Courtesy of CMS athletics)
Jordan Yates CM ’27 is a forward on the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) women’s soccer team. In addition to being a student-athlete, Yates is a member of the Midnight Echo A Capella group, where she led the group with a solo at the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella quarterfinals on Feb. 10.
Before coming to Claremont, Yates attended The Thacher School in Ojai, California, where she led her team as a captain, averaging three goals per game and 48 goals in her junior season. In addition to her athletic success, Yates led her school’s Multi-Ethnic Student Association and participated in musical theater.
After tearing her ACL during her senior year of high school, Yates had to spend most of her fall season for CMS on the bench training and recovering.
Despite a lack of diversity in her sport at a club, collegiate and national level, Yates said she is grateful for the support of her teammates.
“I am very lucky to have a very inclusive team so there haven’t been barriers I have personally felt between me and my teammates,” Yates said.
Yates commended the efforts that CMS has made to help her feel supported as a Black athlete but added that she would appreciate more purposeful spaces for athletes of color.
“We had [Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)] meetings at the beginning of the year which was great groundwork for our team,” Yates said. “However, I think there is room for improvement. I think it would be helpful for athletes of color to have an affinity space so we are able to grow closer through experiences. Additionally, I think more DEI work should be implemented throughout the year. Specifically meetings with coaches and captains would be helpful since they are usually the ones creating and fostering the environment for the rest of the team.”
Nyla Springer PO ’27
Nyla Springer PO ’27 is a pitcher on the Pomona-Pitzer (P-P) softball team. She attended Long Beach Poly in Long Beach, California, where she was First Team All-League and an AP Scholar. So far this season, Springer has pitched nine innings with a 3.89 ERA. Springer helped steady the team in the second leg of a double header against Whitworth on Feb. 16 in her first long relief appearance, earning the first three strikeouts of her collegiate career and pitching 5.2 innings, surrendering only one run.
Springer said she didn’t experience many direct challenges coming up playing softball in the Southern California community because of her race.
“I haven’t really experienced anything overt and if I experienced something subtle that I didn’t really catch on, but I guess I kind of have noticed that,” Springer said. “I feel like I probably got less looks when I was playing travel ball, just because I was like a pitcher. Not a runner. But other than that, I wouldn’t say I’ve experienced anything of the sort.”
Springer spoke about how she feels Pomona College has effectively supported their minority student body through affinity groups such as the Black Student Union. However, she pointed out that despite efforts, there is still room for improvement at predominantly white institutions (PWI) like Pomona.
“I feel like probably some people of color, especially Black people, would be wary about going to schools like ours because it is a majority white population and it’s already so small,” Springer said. “Just going to a PWI in general is kind of a deterrent for some people. So I mean there’s not really any easy way to change that because it’s harder to increase the number of POC applicants.”
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