Emma Krueger thought her collegiate softball career was over in 2024, medically retiring after two years at NJCAA Division II Rock Valley College in Illinois because of injuries and illnesses that took a toll on her body.
It started with a torn labrum before her freshman year in 2023 that sidelined her the entire season. It occurred during the team’s final preparations when she was injured sliding into second.
It took six or seven months after surgery to return to health, but Krueger had a big 2024.
She displayed her talents at the plate, hitting .364 with eight home runs, 34 RBI and 36 runs. She also became the first player in program history to win a Gold Glove for her work at first base.
Krueger was set for an NCAA Division I opportunity at Northern Illinois the following season.
But she started having stomach issues that plagued her at the end of that 2024 campaign – she missed one game after ending up in the hospital – and resulted in her gallbladder being removed.
Krueger never even made it to NIU before stepping away from the game.
Enough was enough. Her body had given out on her. It was time to call it a career.
At least, that’s what she thought at the time.
Turns out, the end of her collegiate softball story was just the beginning.
Emma Krueger ends up playing DI softball
Krueger returned home to attend the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay for academics, but it was difficult to imagine not being part of a team the way she had been for her entire young life.
Rock Valley coach Darin Monroe contacted UWGB coach Sara Kubuske to help Krueger join the Phoenix as a team manager.
Kubuske already was aware of Krueger. She had been interested in her before she committed to NIU, but UWGB did not have a spot open at the time to make an offer.
When Monroe asked if she’d have interest in Krueger as a manager, Kubuske set up a meeting with her that same week.
“The minute you meet Emma and you talk to her, her passion for the game really shines through,” Kubuske said. “Why wouldn’t I want help? We are just a two-man show, so it was beneficial.”
Krueger was excited for the role. The experience would help her aspirations to coach softball in college and follow in the footsteps of her father, Chris, and older sister, Caitlin.
Chris is the softball coach at Green Bay Southwest and Caitlin at Green Bay Preble.
But it wasn’t long after Krueger arrived at UWGB that she started feeling like the old Emma again.
The one who shined in basketball and softball at Bay Port. The one who proved her worth on the diamond at Rock Valley.
“I had the surgery, I think in July of that summer,” Krueger said. “It was about a month or two after I withdrew from Northern Illinois. I didn’t really know how my body would react to it. After that surgery, I mean, once my body started to feel as good as it was before I had the gallbladder attack, I was like, ‘Wow, I still have [three] years of eligibility remaining where I could play softball if I could.’ I always thought once I withdrew from Northern Illinois, I was done for it.
“But then, I found out I wasn’t.”
It only was a week or two into the fall exhibition season in 2024 when Krueger texted Kubuske and asked if they could talk.
Krueger told her she didn’t think she was done playing softball.
Sure, it was great news, but it wasn’t going to be that easy.
When Krueger became a team manager at UWGB, she signed a letter that eliminated her eligibility to play for the Phoenix.
She could transfer and eventually play elsewhere, just not in Green Bay.
It wasn’t a surprise. Krueger and Kubuske had that conversation before she put pen to paper.
Krueger still wanted to know what her options were.
“I remember looking at her and going, ‘I’m not quite sure,’” Kubuske said.
The team turned to UWGB senior associate for compliance Kassie Wagner. Anyone who knows Wagner knows how good she is at her job, but she also is honest with student-athletes about their chances when they appeal to the NCAA.
This one didn’t seem all that promising.
“Kassie had to fill out a waiver, and we had to get all these different letters and fill out all this information,” Kubuske said. “The NCAA got back to her and said, ‘Hey, we need some more supporting information.’
“We supplied the supporting information, and they got back to her again and said, ‘OK, we will let you know in a couple months.’”
Per NCAA rules, Krueger was not allowed to be with the team during that time. Couldn’t help them. Couldn’t train with them. Nothing.
The day of the softball holiday party in December 2024, Wagner informed Kubuske that the NCAA would allow Krueger to play. The organization also said it would never again honor a similar request for the softball program.
Krueger had no clue when she was invited to the party that she was eligible to play. It only was after she was assigned a jersey, and it was announced she’d be wearing it while competing for the Phoenix, that she and the team realized it.
“It ended up being a cool way to being able to do it,” Kubuske said. “But it was definitely an agonizing couple of months for her.”
Emma Krueger struggles early at UWGB before shining
Krueger’s offensive impact her first season with the Phoenix wasn’t inspiring, although it didn’t help that there was no time to get acclimated after missing the exhibition season.
She hit .225 with a .278 on-base percentage and a .247 slugging percentage. She had no home runs and two extra base hits in 89 at-bats.
She felt fine physically, but she had to rebuild her confidence. Her journey to DI was so unusual that it was up to her to realize and believe she was good enough to compete at the level.
It took a lot of self-reflection last summer. Her faith is important, and she leaned on that to help her let go of the pressures she felt. To just go out and play the softball she knew she could.
Krueger returned this season with a clean slate and no negative thoughts.
It showed.
She enters a game against Oakland in the Horizon League tournament May 6, hitting .393 with three home runs, 13 doubles, 24 RBI and 20 runs scored. She has a .438 on-base percentage and is slugging .581.
Everything about Krueger’s game has been unlocked again.
“I learned to stop overthinking about the game of softball and learned to just go play out there,” Krueger said. “My dad and I, we talked a lot before the season started, just ride the wave. Ride each game like a wave. It comes, it goes. You can’t stay on one game too long, because the next game will come and then you’ll still be stuck in the past. Learning to trust the work that I’ve put in and learning that I do belong here, and the coaches do believe in me.
“You just let go of the pressures. Honestly, it’s a game of failure. You are going to fail. But once you learn to stop overthinking, the games become so much easier.”
Krueger’s time at UWGB will be over whenever the season ends for the Phoenix.
UWGB doesn’t offer a master’s degree for her studies, so she will use her final year of eligibility to play for DI Lindenwood University in Charles, Missouri.
There is so much Krueger is grateful for during her time back home.
A softball career she thought was over got a major reboot.
“I wouldn’t trade the experience for the world,” Krueger said. “Last year, even though I struggled, I would have done it again. It has taught me so many lessons that I will carry with me. I’ve built lifelong friendships that I will cherish forever. Even though I am going to Lindenwood next year, I will cherish those. And I’m excited to build new friendships there.
“But being back home, being close to family. Seeing my sister and my dad coach high school teams now, just seeing how they pour into others. It’s just been amazing to be around family. Amazing to live in Green Bay for the past two years and play for my hometown team. That was a lifelong dream of mine since I was little. Everything has been amazing here.”
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Former Bay Port standout Emma Krueger shines for UWGB softball
Reporting by Scott Venci, Green Bay Press-Gazette / Green Bay Press-Gazette
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
