Blackfoot's Emma McGuire signs with Idaho State softball
BLACKFOOT — She wasn’t always the state leader in home runs. She was once a little girl just learning to play softball. Thursday, Blackfoot senior catcher Emma McGuire put pen to paper and achieved her dream of becoming a Division I athlete, signing to play for the Idaho State Bengals. Some days, McGuire can’t believe it herself. “I feel like it is so deep to me,” McGuire said. “When I was younger, I didn’t think I was fit enough to go and play Division I softball, and I didn’t think that I would ever make it that far. I always thought maybe I would go into, like, a JUCO or an NAIA, or I wouldn’t even get the opportunity to play college ball. I know that all the time and effort I put into it got me here today.” By her own account, McGuire was terrible when she first started playing softball at 9. She joined the Blackfoot Cyclones and began to learn the sport. By 11 or 12, she was watching players go off to college, watching games on TV and picturing herself as a college softball player. The road wasn’t easy. It included early-morning and late-night practices, tournaments
