Softball and marriage is not a combination found on many softball teams at the NCAA level.
The BYU softball team is the exception.
Of the 17 players on the BYU softball team, three of the women are married. These numbers are very uncommon among softball players across the nation.
Although marriage is considered a distraction, the BYU softball team did not suffer this year finishing the season with a 36-17 record.
'I really don't know of any teams that we play that have married players,' BYU head coach Gordon Eakin said. 'I think that as newlyweds, which they all are, marriage is a distracting force to softball, but I am very pleased with all of them.'
The married players on the BYU softball team are senior pitcher Cynthia Fallowfield, junior shortstop Kate Walker and junior outfielder Belinda Osborn .
Last year, Fallowfield led the team in pitching appearances with 30. She recorded 12 wins and only seven losses in 19 starts. This year she was 7-4 with a four-hitter against Colorado State.
Walker started 51 games last season leading the team with 150 assists and had a .920 fielding average. She is considered one of the best defensive players on the team.
This is Osborn's first year at BYU after transferring from UVSC at the end of her sophomore year. At UVSC, Osborn made the first-team All-Region and was a third-team All-American. She was a strong defensive player in the outfield this season.
The softball players on the team who are married feel that marriage and their softball careers have been very beneficial in their lives.
'The best thing about playing softball while married is that there is always someone to come home to after a rough day,' Walker said. 'It does make it hard for me to stay after practice to lift weights or work on a skill though, because I have to make dinner and do laundry now.'
Fallowfield agrees, but does not think marriage has affected her performance.
'I think that playing softball is about the same as it was before I was married,' Fallowfield said.
Road games become a little harder for the married players because often the softball team will spend up to five days away from home.
The loneliness hits the spouses who have to stay at home a little harder.
'We both have cell phones and keep in contact the entire time she's away,' Bryan Fallowfield, a native of New Zealand said. 'Distance makes the heart grow fonder.'
Kate Walker's husband also says it is tough.
'I often have concerns if they're going to make it there safely,' LaVon Walker said. 'I'm left at home to fend for myself, but I spend a lot of time talking to Kate on the phone.'
Both spouses said support was the key to successful softball careers for their wives.
'It's hard, but it strengthens us too.' LaVon Walker said. 'She's doing something she really loves and I love her for it. It's wonderful that she keeps getting to do something that she really loves, even though we're married.'
Bryan Fallowfield doesn't see softball as a hindrance to his marriage either.
'I don't think that softball affects our marriage,' Bryan said. 'Our relationship grows because of it. I love supporting her because she loves the game.'
Both Kate Walker and Cynthia Fallowfield were carried to BYU because of their softball careers and their future spouses were carried to BYU because of them.
Kate and LaVon met while Kate was playing softball for the University of Oregon.
'We met at Institute and LaVon was my ride home,' Kate said.
After her freshman year, Kate decided to play softball for BYU.
'I decided to go to BYU and LaVon followed me,' Kate said.
The Walkers were married in February of Kate's sophomore year and have been married for over a year now.
'I really don't think that being married has affected my play at all,' Kate said. 'We talk on the phone four times a day when I'm gone and being married makes coming home so much sweeter after a road game.'
The Fallowfields met while Cynthia was playing softball at the University of Georgia her freshman year.
Bryan was serving a mission in Tennessee and was over for dinner at Cynthia's parent's house when Cynthia and some of her friends came home on a break.
'I was with my friends, and I got bold and gave him (Bryan) my address at school since it was out of the mission boundaries,' Cynthia said. 'We wrote for a year. There was no romance in the letters.'
Cynthia made the transfer to BYU in November of her sophomore year, not realizing she would be engaged and married all within eight months.
'I went to visit Bryan in New Zealand and we got married that next summer in June,' Cynthia said.
The Fallowfields will be married for two years this June.
'I hate leaving, but it's so fun to come home because I'm excited to see him,' Cynthia said. 'It makes you appreciate each other a little more when you're gone.'