Gabby started pitching when she was eight years old. I didn’t like softball. I was very girlie so I hate all the dirty things.” Her mother forced her to start playing Softball, “I was really good so I kind of liked it. That is all I did, play softball and pitch.”

Sprang committed to Purdue as a graduate transfer. The national recognition, and the masters program made Purdue a perfect match for Gabby. 

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During the last five years, she has been learning how to balance being a student-athlete. She found difficult finding time among, studying, homework, practice, and workouts. “Freshman year living in a dorm is hard, you don’t cook, the food is not that great. So, I struggle finding time when to eat.”

The pitcher also found difficulties in having a regular student social life. “We don’t get the Weekend nights as a regular student. It is what I chose and I am happy with it.” She doesn’t regret her decision, “I had all my college paid which is awesome. Also, all my friends are student-athletes so they are doing the same things that I am.” 

Being a student-athlete taught her a lot of things for her future life, “I will be done with softball in the next couple of weeks and it taught me organization skills, leadership, team work, honesty, and determination. There are a lot more goods than bads out of it.”

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Regarding the differences between genders in college sports, “I don’t see differences between the Softball and Baseball team. They got a video board and we got the same exact thing. Everything that Baseball gets we get it too.” However, she finds differences compared to the football treatment, but she recognized that the rest of the sports benefit from that. “They provide the highest revenue. We get some of our facilities due to the football revenue. If it wasn’t for football we probably wouldn’t have many amenities.”

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Gabby considers one of the biggest differences is the television time or social media appearances. “Male sports are talked about a little bit more, they are more glamorous. We don’t get as much press. I think people don’t like to watch female sports as much as they like watching males. It is fine but we don’t have as many opportunities to be on tv as male sports. Besides that it is pretty equal, and Purdue does a pretty good job.”

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Gabby explains that Softball needs to be “glamarize” for gaining more fans and consequently more television time and more money. “It deserves to be equal. We do the same exact things that they do. We don’t attract as many viewers as they do on ESPN and big ten networks, they need to make money, and the way is viewership. Softball is a very fun sport to watch, it is faster and shorter than Baseball. It is a process, and it is not going to take one year, it is going to take a while.”