Almost everyone knows the feeling. You hear your parents call you by your first, middle and last name and you know you’re in trouble.
For the Northwestern softball team, it’s the same way.
“I know I am in trouble when (coach) Kate (Drohan) says ‘Jamie Dotson,'” said junior catcher Jamie Dotson, who is known by the team as “Dottie.”
The Wildcats have formed an intricate bond through nicknames, coming up with new nicknames almost every week, Dotson said.
The nicknames have not only led to new aliases for the girls on and off the field, but they also have led to chants during the games and even helped players pick out their theme music.
“Darcy’s walk-up song is from a WWF CD,” said sophomore outfielder Elizabeth Piatt, better known by teammates and friends as “Biz.”
“She took this ‘Money’ song for her walk-up-to-bat song off of this WWF theme song CD and it’s absolutely hysterical.
“So I guess we started calling her D-Money.”
There isn’t a single member of the softball team that doesn’t have some sort of moniker, whether it comes from their last name or from an inside joke within the team.
But sophomores Garland Cooper, called “G-Unit,” and Eileen Canney, called “Leenie,” seem to be the members who have the most nicknames.
“I call her ‘Lennie Bogart,'” Dotson said. “I just basically can’t spell and that’s how it started out. I spelled ‘Leenie,’ ‘Lennie,’ and that’s how she got the nickname, Lennie, and Bogart just came from inside stories.”
Dotson said the freshman class was tougher to give nicknames to, which led to most new nicknames coming simply from last names.
Freshman Stephanie Churchwell is known as “Churchie,” freshman Kelly Odell is called “Odie” and freshman Kristen Salamon is “Sal.”
“They also call me ‘Shorty’ sometimes because I’m also the shortest person on the team, so I’ve had to go along with that,” Salamon said. “Plus they kind of think I’m ghetto.”
And while the nicknames have become a fun way of passing on inside jokes, some may not even be considered nicknames anymore.
“There are some girls (that) don’t even have real names anymore,” Salamon said.
Reach Paul Tenorio at [email protected].
