TACOMA, Wash. – A native of Huntington Beach, Calif., Pacific Lutheran University softball player Cailey Collado wanted to develop a strong connection to the Parkland campus and make it feel like home for her and her fellow classmates.  In three short years, she has become a pillar of the campus community, earning recognition for her leadership, athleticism and scholarship. 
 


Collado has made a strong impact on the softball team, leading the Lutes to 30 wins this spring, the most since PLU won 45 en route to the national championship in 2012.  The junior earned First Team All-Northwest Conference honors after the 2021 season and has been a fixture at second base since her arrival.  
 
"Cailey is the hardest working young woman I have ever coached," said PLU Head Coach Traci Barrett.  "She excels at everything she does, and better yet she immerses herself in her environment and immediately looks to see how she can improve it for others first, herself last. She is a talented softball player and uses the balance of the DIII community to pour into her teammates and campus community by serving others first. More than anything, Cailey is just a genuinely kind and driven young woman. We are so blessed to have her as a captain and leader on our team. She sets the bar for what service leaderships looks like." 
 
One of this year's Laurie Turner Leadership Award winners, Collado is an active on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and teamed with fellow softball player Molly House to plan a fall formal open to all PLU students.  The formal sold out all 300 tickets and was one of the highlights of the first semester this academic year. 
 
"Cailey has ambition that is not self-serving," said PLU Assistant Athletic Director, SAAC Advisor and Senior Women's Administrator Jennifer Childress-White.  "Her motivation is about others and making their experience extraordinary.  She is a natural born leader.  I am in awe of her energy and positivity and am so grateful to work with her." 
 
Additionally, Collado works part-time in the admissions office, the biology department and is a frequent reporter for the Lute athletic department.  Juggling multiple jobs, being an elite athlete and a leader on campus, Collado still finds time to be an outstanding student and the recipient of the organic chemistry award in May. 
 
"I am impressed with how Cailey interacts with the chemistry content," said PLU Professor of Chemistry Dr. Craig Fryhle.  "I have not known anyone as adept with taking and learning from one's own course notes as Cailey.  She pours over them, developing detailed and insightful questions that she would ask during the many office hours we spent together.  She is the quintessential 'quick study'.  Cailey quickly absorbs the essence of the chemistry, and then asks 'why couldn't it happen this way?', or 'what if we did it this way instead...'  Working with her on these types of questions was delightful.  After some of our early office hour meetings, I could tell that Cailey had the ability to do exceedingly well in organic chemistry, even with her heavy campus involvement, and indeed, she did.
 
This summer, she will be doing research at the Keck Graduate Institute at the Claremont Colleges in California, while fine-tuning her softball skills. She will be studying public health and virology, while also doing work with pandemics and community-wide health disparities and equity issues. 
 
"The real grind starts in the offseason," said Collado. 
 
For Collado, the grind never seems to stop.