Postcard From OKC: Getting to Know Alabama Softball Super Fan Emily Pitek
OKLAHOMA CITY – If you call yourself an Alabama softball fan and don’t know Emily Pitek, you’re not an Alabama softball fan.
Even if you don’t know her name, surely you have seen her. It’s hard to miss a woman dancing on top of a dugout in striped crimson and white overalls wearing a pink sombrero.
She’s Alabama’s unofficial super fan, and has been since 2004 when she was a student at Alabama. And you better believe she’s been in Oklahoma City this week for the Women’s College World Series.
“I’m supposed to be in Maine on Thursday, so I’m leaving Wednesday afternoon. But I’m here,” Pitek said while tailgating in the USA Hall of Fame Stadium parking lot Monday ahead of Alabama’s game with Florida State."
Pitek is a hit with Crimson Tide fans. It's not uncommon for her to be stopped and asked to pose for a photo or have a chat about softball.
"We all share a similar bond and that's the love for Alabama softball," Pitek said. "It's that type of inclusiveness that the sport of softball provides. It doesn't matter who you are or where your are from, you are welcome here."
It’s the sixth time in OKC for Pitek, who has been a diehard UA softball fan since 2004. She played soccer for the Crimson Tide and was injured during the spring.
“I was bored so I went over to the softball stadium,” Pitek said. “Stephanie VanBrakle Prothro was pitching and down in front were her neighbors, and they were pretty rowdy. I went down to be with them and I've been hooked ever since.”
About the sombrero?
She wore it at a Power of Pink gymnastics meet in 2004 but hung onto it. Four years later she was at a softball game and Alabama was ahead of Stanford. VanBrakle Prothro was pulled from the circle, but the Cardinal mounted a rally.
“I thought we needed a rally cap so I ran to my car and the only hat I had was the sombrero,” she said. “I put it on and we won the game, so that’s the rally sombrero.”
The striped overalls came during Alabama’s national title season in 2012. They have been through a lot in almost 10 years of use, but Pitek isn’t letting them go. You know, superstitions and such.
“It’s just something fun,” she said of the overalls. “Game Bibs is the company that owns it. In 2012 they saw me on TV all the time so they gave me a bunch of overalls. I have backup pairs but I’m still wearing the original 2012 overalls. My mom has had to sew them, as have I. They’re here.”
