A family legacy continued when Emily Sharpe, five years old and hardly taller than a baseball tee, begged for her mom, Michele, to throw with her. That day, in their backyard, a lifelong bond between two pitchers was born for mother and daughter.

The tie became threaded before Emily ever touched the dirt of Valley Central’s softball circle, and will continue as she laces up at Stony Brook University this fall.

“I just taught her the mechanics, and then she just kind of took it from there. She wanted to go out in the yard and throw more and more,” said Michele Small Sharpe.

Emily saw her mom throwing to her dad in their yard, and once she got a try, she never wanted to do anything else.

Emily Sharpe has accelerated beyond Class AA competitors for an entire career, ending with her own accolade-laden resume. Her pitching profile includes a well-rounded pitch mix, 259 career strikeouts and command that catches attention for miles across New York’s softball scene.

“She made an identity for herself. The love of the game, she has her own confidence, her own grit, and her own character. It’s just awesome to watch her,” said Michele, who was inducted into Valley Central’s athletic Hall of Fame individually and alongside her 1991 softball teammates.

None has witnessed the growth in Emily’s self-assurance or composure more closely than her mother. And she could not be prouder to watch a legacy continued into another generation.

Widowed when Michele was eight, her father found time for backyard catches, fitting his girl with love for the sport as he did a glove. She evolved from Valley Central pitching phenom to a force at SUNY Oneonta, where Michele still holds various program records, including the school’s only recorded perfect game. She was also inducted into Oneonta’s Hall of Fame. Her father crossed hemispheres and states to witness. Even if, and especially when, it meant stamping Australia on his passport.

“He traveled everywhere I went. It didn’t matter where our games were; he followed. I’ve followed that same path with Emily,” said Michele. 


The Sharpe family itineraries filled as Michele’s father’s were on every trip he took with his daughter. They navigated the euphoric highs and unforgiving lows of sports, each dusted with dirt from softball diamonds and Colorado national parks.
“There are lots of memories there. And I feel like not everything always goes to plan, but when I’m with my parents – or one of them at least – we can make good memories and make light of any situation,” said Emily.

They did it – and still do – as a family. The connection is evident to all who watch Emily write her own legacy in the Viking blue and white, winding up inside the same circle her mother once threw.

Over the past two years, on travel team trips with her parents in tow, recruitment visits and camps, Emily worked tirelessly for the Division-1 offer she desired. Encouragement came from Michele, her daughter’s “biggest role model”. The inspiration to keep emailing collegiate coaches, even as some messages went unanswered.

“There were times when I just felt like it wasn’t going to fall into place, but she always supported me. I can always go to her for any advice, because she just understands everything that I’m going through,” said Emily of her mother.

Emily entered the radar of Stony Brook University. The positive environment Emily found within the program set no doubt in her mind that it would be the next step for her athletic career. With it, she begins the start of an intended major in health sciences and a career in physical therapy.

Of helping people, as Emily has watched her mother do for her entire life.

“She’s very giving, and she always wants to help people. Seeing her be like that my whole life, it’s passed on to me, and that’s something that I want to continue to do,” said Emily.

Softball will next lead the Sharpes to every corner of the Coastal Athletic Association, cheering for Emily’s Seawolves.

“Wherever she goes, we go. Because it’s just awesome that you get to make memories together and support each other. You just can’t get that everywhere,” said Michele.