P.K. Yonge’s Emma Mansfield was unlike most girls when it came to the game of softball.

The Jacksonville University softball signee played baseball at an early age and played the sport competitively for seven years. In fact, she didn’t even start her softball career until she was 15.

“I started playing T-ball when I was five for the Gainesville city league because my brother was playing baseball and I wanted to give it a try,” she said. “After my coach transitioned to a new age group, I played for Gatorball Baseball Academy.”

It was there that she made a huge impression on her travel ball coach, former Gator and NFL quarterback Doug Johnson.

“I was fortunate enough to coach Emma for four years at Gatorball, and when she came on board at 11 years old, there was a big group of boys that came to this team, and we had to split up the team because we had that many good players,” Johnson said. “There are three players on my team that are all going to JU, two baseball kids and now one softball kid…she’s one of my favorite players I’ve ever coached.”

The Class of 2025 graduate played middle school baseball in the sixth grade for PKY, JV in seventh and varsity the last five years.

In fact, she became the first female in PKY history to start a varsity baseball game during her eighth-grade year.

One of her favorite high school sports moments came as a sophomore while playing baseball with her older brother, Aidan.

“During his senior year, he pitched, and I caught,” she said. “It was a special moment.”

Mansfield was first invited to a USA/MLB baseball event (Trailblazers Series) when she was 11 years old and she has been invited to play each year in both the Breakthrough Series and Elite Development Invitational until her senior year.

At 14, she was invited to play in the All American Women’s Baseball Classic, hosted by USA Baseball and the Durham Bulls. She will be playing for a fourth time next month (Aug. 1-3) in Durham, North Carolina.

At the ages of 16 and 17, she was invited to attend the National Women’s Baseball Team’s winter team training in Mesa, Arizona.

In addition to baseball, Mansfield played recreational soccer when she was nine years old and started playing competitively at the age of 10 for Gainesville Soccer Alliance.

“In the sixth grade, I tried out for the varsity soccer team and was lucky enough to make the team and spent all my high school/middle school years playing varsity soccer at PKY,” she said.

She finished her career with 39 goals and 25 assists and was selected to the Mainstreet Daily News small school All Area team as a junior and a senior.

“Because she’s been playing with boys, she’s brave, and she’s so athletic,” said PKY girls soccer coach Rebecca Schackow, who has been coaching her since she joined the varsity team her sixth grade year. “That has carried her through and allowed her to be so diverse as an athlete. I mean, how lucky, right? I’d love to be able to play three varsity sports that well…it’s very special and I’m really happy for her to have all of those opportunities, but I think that’s because of her courage and her athleticism.”

As a junior, the Lady Blue Wave advanced to their first final four in program history, which is also among her favorite high school sports moments.

This past January, she added a sixth straight district championship to her impressive resume, including another regional final appearance.

Once spring rolled around, she decided to play baseball and softball.

“I did not prioritize hitting my senior year (baseball) as I was only training with a softball,” she said. “My goal was to get reps in at the catcher position, so I mainly played defensively my senior year…it (baseball) has helped me tremendously with hand-eye coordination, just seeing a smaller ball, obviously swinging a heavier bat and then switching to a lighter one.”

Mansfield said she started playing softball in her sophomore year of high school when she knew she wanted to play collegiate sports.

“My love for baseball quickly transitioned to include love for softball,” said Mansfield, who played both varsity baseball and softball her final three seasons (grades 10, 11 and 12). “I was fortunate to have coaches that were flexible and encouraged my journey. In order to be able to play both sports, I played in the JV baseball games and would play in the varsity softball games on the same night when schedules overlapped.”

She finished her softball career with a .590 batting average, a .638 on-base percentage, 86 hits, 35 doubles, 12 home runs, 90 hits, 67 runs batted in, scored 90 runs, and a 1.097 slugging percentage.

“I was fortunate to have Emma play softball when I took the job as P.K. Yonge’s softball coach because she grew up a true baseball player,” P.K. Yonge coach Daryl Mosley said. “The addition of her playing softball was vital to our team’s success during her high school years. The players alongside her elevated their own performance to make the program stronger and competitive. It will be exciting to watch her continue to grow at the next level.”

Mansfield, who earned Mainstreet Daily News All Area honors in softball her sophomore, junior and senior seasons, also excelled in the classroom.

She was selected to the FHSAA’s Florida Dairy Farmers Academic All-State team after finishing with a 4.0 grade point average and ranking 18th in her class.

“I prioritized academics, training, and recovery before anything else,” Mansfield said. “My goal was to play collegiate athletics, and it was important to me to achieve that goal above other extracurricular activities. I was fortunate to have great coaches, teachers and family that allowed me to balance my time between sports and academics.”

As an outgoing senior, her advice to other high school student athletes is to “work hard but try not to take things too seriously.”

“Failure will happen, expect and forget about it, move on to the next play,” she said. “Most importantly, enjoy your time. It goes by too fast.”

She said the thing she will remember most about her high school sports career is the friends and family she has made along the way.

“The teammates that are now family and family that were teammates,” she said.

Mansfield, who enjoys reading, baking and travelling, when given the opportunity, will be playing Division-I softball this fall for the Dolphins while also studying health sciences at Jacksonville University.

“Emma is more than a D-I athlete ready for college softball,” Mosley said. “Her hardworking off-field training positioned her to achieve what she has done so far. The focus on her academic path will lead to great success in her future.”