Former Nansemond-Suffolk Academy standout Emerson Puzey made a lot of progress in her first year at Pfeiffer University.

Mentally and physically, Puzey’s freshman year was all a learning experience for her. Heading into her first year last fall, Puzey was a bit behind from a physical standpoint. She tore her ACL close to the end of her senior year at NSA. That put her in recovery mode during the fall; however, she was able to bounce back and see time on the field this past spring.

“I would say it was a big learning experience for me physically and mentally,” she said. “It was hard first getting there because I felt like I was behind everyone, but slowly but surely everything started to come together to me when I was fully cleared to play.”

When it comes to dealing with serious injuries such as breaks and tears, athletes have to have patience. They don’t want to rush their process, because they can reinjure themselves. Puzey said there were times her patience was tested, but knew overall, she just needed to take things day by day.

“There were practices and times where I struggled with patience,” she said. “But I learned to take things day by day and just not looking at the picture as a whole. I have a great coaching staff at Pfeiffer that constantly motivated me along with my teammates to keep me working hard.”

Puzey was a closer for Pfeiffer as this spring. She made an appearance in 14 games, starting in one and going 1-2. In the 13 total innings she pitched, she had 14 strikeouts. With her role, she helped Pfeiffer win its second consecutive conference championship.

The former NSA standout is used to this kind of success at NSA and described it as something she’s dreamed about accomplishing her whole softball career

As she prepares for the fall and her sophomore year, Puzey has been working on her pitching with pitching instructor Rita Lynn Gilman. She wants to gain her speed back and continue to work on herself in the gym as much as she can.

Puzey was the 2017 Suffolk News-Herald Spring Female Player of the Year. At NSA, she was a two-time All-State selection as well as All-Conference selections. During her junior season, she was the Tidewater Conference of Independent Schools Player of the Year and also was the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association Division II State Player of the Year, becoming the first softball player in NSA history to do so.