When Roy Edenfield passed away in 2020, it was clear he spent his life ensuring the human beings around him always felt seen, heard and loved. And not just his family – his community in North Florida gathered in his memory after his 76 years because Roy made sure to help as many people as he could in as many ways as he was able.
His granddaughter, Michaela Edenfield, hopes to have a similar impact.
“He was the community guy,” said the Volts catcher. “Everyone knew who Roy Edenfield was because Roy Edenfield knew any type of network or person to connect you with if you needed someone to be able to fix something.”
Roy was always there to lend a helping hand. Michaela said he was an incredible advocate for women’s sports, attending all of her mom and aunts’ softball games. Her mother, Tami Powell, played high school softball and wore the No. 51 – the same number Michaela wears today. Her aunt Teresa Powell played softball at Florida State from 1997 to 2001.
Roy helped with the local leagues and made sure everything was taken care of for the kids in her town. He made sure the players were fed, the fields were fixed, and that everyone had a chance to have a great experience.
“When he passed, people didn’t say, ‘He was great at work,’ but rather, ‘He was a great human being,’ and that’s the impact I want to have,” Michaela said.
Rather than be remembered for only her ability on the field, she wants to be remembered by how she made the people around her feel.
She did so at Florida State and continues to do it at the professional level in the Athletes Unlimited Softball League. While the transition to the pro level hasn’t been the easiest, Michaela has relied on something that has not failed her — her vulnerability — to have an impact on the game like “Mr. Roy,” as many called him, had on her hometown.
“You go from high school and travel where you feel like you’re the big fish in the small pond, and then you go play Division I ball and you feel like you’re in a river,” Michaela said about her first month in the AUSL. “And now [at the pro level] it feels like I’m in an ocean, and I felt sometimes like the baby shrimp at the bottom.”
So, Michaela started leaning in and becoming vulnerable with her teammates.
“ I talked to Rachel Garcia about how to stop overthinking.”
Garcia opened up to her about her own past experiences of overthinking, which helped Michaela work through her own thoughts.
It made the Volts rookie realize that, “Everyone is so human and even the best athletes have had times where they’ve felt like they didn’t belong.
“Just being able to hear her open up and share that piece to me made me feel human, too.”
It was not an easy road for Michaela to be vulnerable. She was bullied at a young age. She had to redshirt her freshman year of college and dealt with the doubt of whether she was capable of playing at Florida State. She questioned herself and her skills.
All this taught her to let people in and let people help. And, she uses that lesson today.
“ The more I doubt myself is the more everything’s gonna sink,” Michaela said. “But if I allow others to throw me like a little lifeline, a little vest, maybe a couple of ropes, I can slowly get out of this hole.”
And she’s reciprocating that lifeline for her teammates.
“That’s the strength within vulnerability that I was talking about,” Michaela said. “It’s just cool because these women are willing to help because they know what it’s like.”
Michaela adjusted to the pro game as the season went on and began to feel more like herself. She found her strength in opening up, showing up on the field of play, but also for all of the young girls in the stands.
“It’s just amazing because it makes me feel like I have shown the little girls in my hometown that you could do this too,” said the Florida native. “If you put your mind to it, put your heart where it needs to be, you can do this. To be able to see the true outreach and impact that this sport has across the country… I went over to Seattle with this team, and I saw Florida State fans. I saw people knowing my name, and you can’t take it for granted.”
And she hasn’t. She continued with what she calls her “razzle and dazzle” makeup looks that she uses to express herself.
At almost every Volts game, young girls arrived at the ballpark with beautiful makeup painted around their eyes. They waited for Michaela to emerge from the dugout – they wanted to see the glam she had decided on. After the game, they lined up to get her autograph. She has inspired them to be themselves, to express who they are, and to believe that one day they can be the strong, female athlete in the dugout.
She’s making her community feel seen and heard, just like her grandfather Roy.
Maria Trivelpiece is currently the Director of Video Communications and Reporter at the American Athletic Conference and a softball color analyst. Trivelpiece was an outfielder at Fordham University and still stays involved with the game through coaching and covering the sport. You can follow her on X M_Trivelpiece or Instagram @_mariatrivelpiece
