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Aspen Wesley
Photo by: Mississippi State Athletics

To the Beat of Her Tribe’s Drum

May 25, 2020 | Softball, HailStateBEAT

by Brian Ogden, Assistant Director/Communications
 
STARKVILLE – Trailing 4-0, head coach Samantha Ricketts made the call for the freshman. It was the second time, she'd gone to a newcomer in Mississippi State's Opening Day exhibition against the United States Olympic Team.
 
For the first appearance of her college career, Aspen Wesley was asked to step into the circle against Olympians.
 
"I could not tell you how nervous I was," Wesley said. "Coach Ricketts, she could even tell. Usually I have this straight face, so no one ever can tell if I'm like mad, angry, just sad or happy. My face is usually always the same, but you could so tell by my face. I was shaking."
 
The nerves showed at first. Wesley walked the leadoff batter on a 3-2 pitch. She responded by getting a pop out on a 1-1 count but greeted her third batter with a pair of balls. Then she settled in.
 
Wesley got a called strike then threw the next two pitches past a swinging Michelle Moultrie for the second out. After battling back to a full count on her fourth hitter, she induced a ground ball to end the inning.
 
"I didn't know how I was feeling," she said. "Ricketts was like, 'Aspen, you can smile now,' and after she said that I could not quit smiling."
 
The freshman considers that debut as her proudest moment of the season, not just for her performance on the field, but also what it symbolized for the people watching her.

"I didn't know how I was feeling. Ricketts was like, 'Aspen, you can smile now,' and after she said that I could not quit smiling."
 
Wesley is a member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and grew up in the Pearl River community on the Choctaw Indian Reservation outside of Philadelphia, Mississippi. She just calls it the Rez. She sees playing softball as her way to inspire the next generation little girls in her tribe.
 
"We know that the Rez is here," she said. "It's always going to be the same. My mom and dad have always told me they have been on the Rez their whole life, my grandma, my grandpa, my family. They're asking me to go out. It feels like it's hard leaving everybody, but, like I said, the Rez is always here, and it's not going anywhere."
 
Mississippi State was one of the first schools to reach out to the state's four-time Gatorade Player of the Year. Wesley wanted to stay close to home, so her family and the rest of the tribe could watch her play. The Bulldogs checked those boxes.
 
"They made it very easy," she remembered. "They were the first ones to offer me, and just talking to them, I felt like I was talking to a friend. The tribe is right here close to me, and there's so many little girls that say they want to be me. I love that they come to watch my games."
 
Wesley is an inspiration to her family still living on the Rez. She always heard about how athletic her parents were. Her mom would have loved to play sports in college, but never got the chance because she had to raise her.
 
She admits there's also a bit of stigma around leaving the tribal land. It's just not that common. For a girl to leave to play sports was also a bit unusual.
 
Women now play sports in the tribe alongside the men, but it hasn't always been that way. The tribe plays a game called stickball that is similar to lacrosse. Girls and women weren't allowed to play until the 1990s. That's no longer the case, and the World Series of Stickball is Wesley's favorite part of the annual Choctaw Indian Fair.
 
"We play stickball with boys, up until we're like 18," she said. "The girls, they get tackled, just like how boys get tackled, but, you know what? They get back up, and they play with the boys."
 
We play stickball with boys, up until we're like 18. The girls, they get tackled, just like how boys get tackled, but, you know what? They get back up, and they play with the boys.

Each of the eight Choctaw communities fields a team, and a group from Oklahoma comes each year as well. There are also some independent crossover teams made up of family members that may live in different communities.
 
Wesley quickly invited anyone to come witness the game themselves the next time the tribes meet. She wishes everyone could get a chance to see it at least once.
 
"It's a fun week of traditional food, Choctaw arts & crafts, traditional Choctaw dancing, the Choctaw Indian Princess pageant and the World Series of Stickball," she said. "Anyone is welcome to play and watch."
 
When Welsey steps in the circle at Nusz Park, she broadcasts those facts to anyone close enough to hear. Her walkup music is "Stadium Pow Wow" by A Tribe Called Red and the tribal drums echo through the stands while she warms up.
 
She first heard the song at one of her high school games, and her parents suggested it would be a good match for her. Wesley forgot about the song in the fall until her parents reminded her about it. The first time it played over the loudspeakers, it reminded Wesley of who she was playing for.
 
"When it played, I just felt more connected," she said. "I headed out to the mound all nervous, and it just hit differently than hearing it in my headphones. It calmed me down, and I felt like I could breathe."
 
It's another way she demonstrates the pride she takes in her culture. She wants it to be known that yes, she's a Native American, and yes, she can play softball at the highest level.
 
Her parents missed her first scrimmage at State in the fall, but her aunt brought her cousins. Wesley describes her cousin, Emma, as her "tail." She follows her everywhere and wants to do everything she does.
 
In high school, Wesley wore No. 8. When she got to MSU, where that number is retired in honor of Alex Wilcox, she switched to No. 28. Emma will only wear those two numbers when she plays.
 
A few other Choctaws came out to the park that day as well. The younger girls surrounded her, asking to take pictures.
 
"I want them to come watch me so they know that they can do it," Wesley said. "There are other natives out there that play sports, that play at the next level, but I am the first Mississippi Choctaw pitcher to play in the SEC. I just want them to know that I started where they're at right now and they can do it also."

"When it played, I just felt more connected. I headed out to the mound all nervous, and it just hit differently than hearing it in my headphones. It calmed me down, and I felt like I could breathe."