Her first recruitment came  without the typical flood of direct messages and on-campus visits that make up the traditional recruitment of a high school sports star.

Sure, Sarah Gordon’s high school softball resume spoke for itself, winning a state title and the Gatorade Player of the Year award for the state of South Carolina, but COVID-19 complicated a few things and limited some of the eyes that could watch her play.

“I’m not gonna lie, it was hard to get out and get seen because coaches weren’t really going out as much and it was hard to kind of get in front of them,” Gordon recalled of her initial recruitment out of high school. “It was rough, first recruiting was really stressful and it was really hard. I started posting videos on Twitter and stuff just to get coaches to see me and that’s where a lot of coaches kept up with me.”

Despite some of the struggles that came along with that initial recruitment, Gordon’s play was still good enough to be noticed by Louisville, who offered her a scholarship after her successful high school career. As soon as she arrived at campus, she was immediately expected to make an impact.

And make an impact she did, so much so that she grabbed the attention of SEC power Georgia, where she is transferring to play next season.

Gordon started her freshman year at Louisville hitting near the top of the order and winning the job as the team’s starting catcher, a tall ask for someone who was brand new to college softball. But Gordon adjusted and with the help of some of her teammates like Korbe Otis and Taylor Roby, she was able to grow quickly into her new role.

“I didn’t have time to really feel it out and figure it out myself,” Gordon said. “I was kind of just thrown into it, which was good. I love it, I like it that way. But I also had a lot of teammates that helped me out with that as well. Like, if I didn’t know something and was confused about something, all I had to do was ask my teammates and they would be there just to help me with whatever I needed so it was good to have that support as well.”

In that freshman year, Gordon established herself as one of the best hitters not just on the team, but in the ACC. She led the team in doubles with 12, ranked third on the team in home runs with 12, hit .379 and recorded an on-base plus slugging percentage of over 1.08. Her production helped lead the Cardinals to a 36-20 record and a trip to the NCAA tournament where they fell twice to Indiana in the regionals.

Even though it came in a loss, Gordon gained confidence that she can compete with anyone in college softball after she went 2-for-2 with a double against Oklahoma, the national champion who had an unbelievable record of 61-1 on the season and is considered one of the best dynasties in recent memory in college sports. Yes, Oklahoma won the game, but Gordon gained a valuable softball lesson during her impressive hitting performance against the sports best.

“One thing that kind of stuck with me throughout that game was it doesn’t matter what uniform they’re wearing,” Gordon added. “I kind of went into it like, ‘Ok, I’m gonna get the best competition and I’m gonna compete with what I have because that’s gonna be good enough,’ so that was kind of what my mindset was going into it.”

Gordon’s spectacular season also ended with an impressive set of honors: the ACC Player of the Year award and a spot on the freshman All-American team. It was an award that, as great as she played, she didn’t see coming.

“It was honestly surreal because I didn’t think I had a shot at either award,” Gordon recalled. “I know I had a good year but I kind of don’t focus on those because obviously, the freshman class in the ACC was insane. There’s a few really good pitchers that are amazing so I definitely thought that one of them was going to get it. So hearing that, I just credit my teammates for helping me out again because I wouldn’t have grown the way I did without my teammates and coaches by my side whenever I had a question or just to help me and guide me.”

Gordon’s second recruitment

It’s a common theme in modern college sports that the invention of the transfer portal and relaxed rules on transfers that many players nowadays have two recruitments.

This was the case for Gordon and recruitment number two was a night and day difference from recruitment number one.

The first step in this recruitment process was to enter the transfer portal, which may sound like something from a Twilight Zone episode and is talked about in some collegiate athletic circles as something of a boogeyman. But after an incredible freshman season, Gordon and her family knew that the portal could provide her with an opportunity to upgrade her college softball status and bring her a little closer to home.

“I honestly talked to some of my teammates about it who have transferred and then I also talked to my parents,” Gordon said. “I think my parents were the big deciding factor. Just talking to them, talking through the season, talking about how it went and what I want for my college career, they said they would back up any decision I made.”

A few days later, Gordon decided to take the leap of faith required to roll the dice of going into the transfer portal. There was still some risk involved. What if she didn’t attract the schools she wanted to attend? What if she decided to go back to Louisville but her spot was taken? It’s never a given that players that enter the portal ever leave with the desired result or for some athletes, never leave at all.

But those fears were quickly extinguished within an hour of her name being in the portal.

“It was just crazy,” Gordon remembered. “It was about an hour or two before I started getting emails and texts and calls and calls from my old travel coach asking if he could give coaches my number and I was just on the phone the whole day and the whole second day.”

After all the flurry of calls and texts and all of this heavy recruitment that dwarfed the volume of her initial one, she seemingly had her pick of the college softball litter. But with enough options to make the average person hesitant or indecisive, Gordon fell in love with a particular SEC school rather quickly.

“One thing I wanted to do was be a little closer to home so that my parents could come and watch and all of that. But I talked to my old travel coach, the one that helped me through my recruitment process again, and asked whatever schools I would be interested in and to just let him know. And I answered Georgia because I’ve seen their success,” Gordon said. “But then they reached out and they were just very personable and seemed like an amazing coaching staff. So then I took a visit there and I just loved it. I went with my mom and when I went to leave I was like, ‘Wow, I actually really love it here,’ so I feel like that’s kind of how that happened.”

There’s another plus that comes with playing at Georgia: elevated competition. Gordon now goes from playing in the ACC to the SEC. Not only does the SEC have many traditional softball powers, it will welcome the biggest of all softball powers in 2024 when Oklahoma enters the league. According to her high school coach, Laurie Epps, the elevated competition suits her perfectly.

“Sarah was definitely a competitor in high school,” Epps said. “What made Sarah special was she didn’t compete against others, she always competed with herself to get better. She didn’t compare herself to others. To this day, Sarah still has that mindset and strives to be the best that she can possibly be.”

If you ask Gordon about her strengths as an athlete, she’ll bring up that drive and competitive nature. It’s something that she thinks she can add to Georgia to help push them into the Women’s College World Series after the team was so close last year, falling in the super regionals to eventual runner-up Florida State.

“I would just say that I’m a competitor and any role they put me in, I’m just going to do my best and just kind of go out there and give it my all,” Gordon said. “Just like any situation, I’m gonna go out there and give it my all and if it works, it works and if it doesn’t, I feel like having a team with heart like that and competitiveness like that, I feel like that will put you over the edge to go up against any team.”