Tamburo returns to Mahomet, will continue softball career at Parkland

By FRED KRONER
fred@mahometnews.com

Sam Tamburo is not a typical transfer.

First, she transferred from a high school in Arizona to Mahomet-Seymour for her senior year.

How many teen-agers willingly leave a warm-weather climate for an area that produces negative wind chills multiple times during the winter?

“I missed Illinois terribly,” Tamburo said. “I wanted to come back home.”

Second, she didn’t move to an area where she was an unknown.

“I went to elementary school in Mahomet from third through fifth grade,” said Tamburo, who was born in Champaign.

“I was surprised how many people I remembered. It was a matter of getting to know them again.”

Third, Tamburo’s reputation as a softball player accompanied her.

In November — more than four months before she’d suit up for the Bulldogs — Tamburo signed a letter of intent to continue her career at Parkland College.

She is a classic utility player.

“I‘ve played every position except pitching,” Tamburo said.

She will likely be utilized most as a catcher and shortstop for M-S, which opens its season — weather permitting — on Tuesday at home against Villa Grove.

Her commitment to Parkland was more a result of her making herself known to the school than it was for Parkland to first become aware of a player in Arizona.

“In eighth grade, I flew out to do a camp at Parkland,” Tamburo said. “My mom (Jenn Peterson) went there and she was familiar with the school.”

***

Current Parkland softball head coach Chuck Clutts, who has been on the job 19 years, remembers getting a call about a person who wanted to come to his camp in 2015.

Tamburo had just finished her eighth-grade year.

He was a bit leery because of her age.

“We have mostly sophomores through seniors,” Clutts said.

He was impressed by her willingness to travel so far to participate in the camp.

“That’s the furthest anyone has come for our camp,” Clutts said.

His doubts were erased when he saw her in person.

“She fit right in and was as good as some of them (older players),” Clutts said. “Her skill level was very high.

“The age difference did not bother her.”

Because athletes develop at different rates, Clutts only promised to stay in touch. He couldn’t predict then if she would be a player of the future.

“It was still five years down the line before she would be in college,” Clutts said. “I’ve learned not to get my hopes up too much.”

One person, however, did maintain high hopes.

“I enjoyed the coach and the environment,” she said. “I had my heart set on Parkland.”

Her feelings didn’t diminish when she learned that Clutts planned to retire at the conclusion of the 2019 season.

“I was kind of bummed, but excited to see what they (incoming coaches Kristi and Dan Paulson) will do with the program,” Tamburo said.

***

Clutts projects Tamburo as a catcher.

At the time he extended a scholarship offer, he had never seen her play a game.

“I’d watched tapes, but never saw a live game,” he said.

On the screen, he saw an athlete who was sound defensively and a solid hitter.

Another trait was even more prominent.

“If you have a kid who really wants to come to Parkland, we want them,” Clutts said. “You find these kids every once in a while.”

Last spring, Clutts was at a softball tournament at Chesterfield, Mo., speaking with Tamburo’s mother on his cell phone.

“She asked, ‘What does a person have to do to commit,’ and I said, ‘just tell me, “ Clutts said. “She said, ‘Just a minute.’

“Sam got on the phone and said, ‘I want to play at  Parkland.’ “

That ended the recruiting process.

Clutts said he is as excited about the person coming to Parkland as much as the softball player who has committed.

“Her personality is wonderful,” Clutts said. “Her attitude is great and she is always smiling.

“Her love for the sport of softball is outstanding, and she plays hard.”

***

With her collegiate future set, Tamburo considered it important to return to the area. Her reasons went beyond establishing residency in the state where she will be attending college.

“I came back to try and get to know more people and get used to the weather,” Tamburo said, “because the environment is completely different.”

When her family relocated to Illinois, she joined an Indiana-based travel team. That led to her first reality check.

“In Arizona, we played year ‘round and practiced three times a week, sometmes for 3 hours,” she said. “I wasn’t getting the hours in I needed (with the Indiana team).”

In August, Tamburo switched to the Mattoon Pride travel team and “practiced a lot more,” she said.

Her passion for softball is not a new development.

“I’ve been strictly softball since I got into high school,” Tamburo said. “I’ve slowed down with everything else and was willing to push myself to get to where I am now.”

In her younger years, she also participated in basketball, cross-country, golf, soccer, track and volleyball as well as tackle football during her fifth-grade year in M-S.

The decision to emphasize softball wasn’t difficult.

“(Softball) came natural to me and was easier to get the hang of,” Tamburo said.

While in Arizona, she played for both Mountain Pointe High School (in Ahwatukee) and for Valley Vista High School (in Surprise), compiling a career batting average of .421, a career on-base average of .498 and a career fielding average of .913. She also earned honorable mention all-region accolades.

***

Tamburo is fully prepared to start the next phase of her life.

The reception she received in Mahomet has been a positive one.

“I totally felt like I had a warm welcome,” Tamburo said. “It was fun to come back.”

Being familiar with some of her classmates upon her arrival, “helped a lot,” she said.

Clutts expected her to make a smooth transition back to her home state after seven years in either Arizona or Nevada.

“With her personality, she makes friends quite easily,” he said.

Tamburo is thinking beyond a year with the Bulldogs and two years with Parkland’s Cobras.

“I’d like to major in radiology, then enlist in the Air Force and be a radiology technician,” Tamburo said. “I think I’ll be done (with softball) after Parkland.”

For the M-S softball program, however, she is just about to start.