ALL AMERICAN: Maleah Andrews brings people together both on and off the field

WWU softball’s Maleah Andrews is no stranger to balancing schoolwork, sports and life. 

Hundreds of hours of work on the field have resulted in a full list of accolades for her to choose from: 2026 co-captain, all-time WWU on-base percentage record holder, National Fastpitch Coaches Association National D2 Player of the Week and 2025 All-American.  

But those titles fail to fully capture who Andrews is. When she first stepped onto Western’s campus, Andrews knew she had to be intentional about making space for the pieces of herself that exist off the infield dirt.  

Those moments away from softball allow her to keep her passion alive and never feel like sports is just another chore to complete, she said.  

Now in her junior year, Andrews is building herself a future where she can help other student athletes find that balance for themselves. 

On The Hot Corner 

Andrews plays third base, also known as “the hot corner” because of the high-speed line-drives that run down the third base line. Those hard hits and split-second decisions are some of the things about softball that Andrews loves.   

“I like the hot corner because I don't have to think. I just get to play,” she said. “I don't have to overanalyze what I'm doing. I've been known to overthink things anyway, so it's nice to trust my instincts a little bit.”   

Andrews holds the WWU record for highest career batting average, on-base percentage and most runs scored. Last season, she set the record for single-season batting average at .473, and her record 56-game on-base streak helped lead the Vikings back to the NCAA II National Championships for the second consecutive year. 

“Maleah is what you call a ‘five-tool player,’” said Sheryl Gilmore, who has been Andrews’ softball coach for the last three years. “She can do it all.”  

Andrews is also nationally recognized, Gilmore said, and was unanimously voted the best overall NCAA Division II third baseman in the country last season.  

But if you asked Andrews to name off her stats, she wouldn’t be able to tell you. 

“I don't like looking at the numbers no matter what time of the season it is, no matter when it is,” she said. “Those kinds of things can be very clouding, and finding a way to step away from those and be my own person outside of that was definitely a learning curve.” 

This year, Andrews became a captain alongside teammate Hailey Rath, which came with its own learning curve, she said.  

“I’m finding a way to lead without having a separation between being a teammate and a captain,” she said. “I'm here to lead and guide when it's needed, not to take control of situations. I'm still on the team; I'm still the same as everybody else.” 

Gilmore said Andrews and Rath were a “natural fit” for team captains. 

“Maleah cares a lot about the success of the program and the individuals in it, and she understands what it takes to win on and off the field,” she said. “She and Hailey work really well together because their strengths complement each other, and they communicate well with each other, our coaching staff and the entire team.”  

Andrews’ strengths on the field are her energy, discipline, competitiveness, athleticism and high softball IQ, Gilmore said.  

“She is a great teammate and an exceptional communicator who brings people with her,” she said. 

These strengths follow Andrews off the field, too, Gilmore said. 

“She is very similar off the field in that she is a connector who brings people together, is a natural leader, she looks out for and takes care of others, and she is a joy to be around,” she said. 

A Winning Mindset 

The infield dirt isn’t the only place you’ll find Andrews. Sometimes, you’ll spot her inside Carver Gym behind a net.  

Andrews was recruited for softball, but she also plays on the volleyball team as a setter, which adds one more spinning plate to what she has to balance. But despite the demands on her time playing two sports, Andrews said it never feels like an obligation. 

“I enjoy going to practice so much that I don't think it's ever felt like a chore to me,” she said. “I think that because of the energy and relationship that I have with the people there, what we're doing doesn't feel like it's work.” 

Andrews said the biggest challenge she’s faced in college athletics doesn’t come from balancing academics and time on the field. Instead, it’s the perception that how she performs on the diamond is how she’s doing in other aspects of her life. 

“People like to look at your stats and how you're doing in the game versus how you're actually doing mentally and physically,” she said.  

The gap between perception and reality led Andrews to a minor in psychology. She said she hopes to incorporate her major, public health, and her minor into a future career, she said.  

“When we talk about public health, a lot of topics come up in our classes that don't really relate to the collegiate or pro-athlete population,” she said.  

There is a constant need for student athletes to balance education, performance and mental health. In high school, Andrews had a hard time trying to manage keeping up with friends while constantly doing homework on the road to another game, she said. 

“At a younger age, I think it would have been huge for me to have known how to fuel my body, how to take care of myself, but still stay connected to others around me,” she said.  

Andrews chose to study public health because it allowed her to have a future helping people while allowing her the opportunity to remain involved with athletics.  

“Growing up, I always thought I was going to be a teacher like my mom because I got to see the impact she made on people's lives, and I think that was the beginning of me realizing I wanted to have an impact on people like that, too,” she said. “I am such a people-person, and I love getting to know people and simply interacting with them.” 

It’s only natural, then, that her favorite part of studying public health is the people around her.  

“I feel like our cohort's gotten really close,” she said. “My favorite part is the openness and the freedom of sharing ideas and asking questions, because there's so many things that are happening in the world at once right now, and we get to be free and ask questions about ‘what if’s.” 

Andrews likes that her public health classes allow her to delve deeper into current events, government agencies and public policy, she said. 

The depth of knowledge and flexibility of future careers confirmed for Andrews that she had chosen the right academic path. 

“The open ideas and wide range of topics in public health made it possible for me to have more confidence in my decision,” she said. “I knew I could make something out of my degree that would resonate with me in some way. “ 

Chasing sunsets 

Athletics might have pulled Andrews to Western, but what keeps her here is Bellingham. 

She said Bellingham is the place where she’s made her friends, where she can grow and where she’s never bored. 

“I made a home here — a second home away from home,” she said. “I've met people. I've kind of put myself out there enough where I feel comfortable to be here all the time.” 

Since coming to Western, Andrews said she’s been able to find a much healthier balance between athletics, school and fun.  

“I made sure my freshman year that I reached myself out of my usual circles,” she said. “I have a lot of friends that were outside of softball, outside of sports in general, and I think that's what made me really enjoy college itself.” 

Andrews keeps herself grounded by seeing her friends who don’t play sports, curling up with the latest fantasy book series — she’s in the middle of the Court of Thorns and Roses series right now — or driving around Bellingham to watch the sunset and window-shop houses in expensive neighborhoods.  

“I made sure if I needed my own time, I took that time for myself,” Andrews said. 

Another constant in Andrew’s life is music, which she said is always playing, and she’s known by her friends for knowing almost every song played. 

“My coach likes to say that I was born at the wrong time because I know a lot of really old songs,” she said.  

When she finally hangs up her cleats and leaves Western as one of the greatest players in program history, Andrews said she hopes that she will be remembered more for the enthusiasm she brings off the field rather than her abilities on it.. 

“I like to go into practice, class or anything I can with as much effort and to give as much as myself as I can. I think that is contagious in a way. If you're having a bad day, I'm going to try to bring you up and bring you with me,” she said. “So even if it is a long day for me or I am tired, I try to bring 100% of whatever's left in my tank to just be genuinely me, stay in the moment and keep the moment fun.” 

Andrews takes the field again on Thursday, May 7 for the GNAC Championships in Ellensburg. Watch online at https://www.gnacnetwork.com/ and follow the rest of WWU’s softball’s season on Instagram @wwu_softball 

To learn more about the Public Health program, visit https://chss.wwu.edu/health-human-development/public-health 

Mikayla King (‘17) covers the College of Science and Engineering and Woodring College of Education for University Communications. Reach out to her with story ideas at kingm24@wwu.edu.