When former ASU softball player Kara Brun made her return to Farrington Stadium two weeks ago, she expected an emotional night. She just didn't bank that her life would be changed forever.
Brun had already been having an eventful summer traveling around the country since the beginning of June and playing exhibition games as part of the National Pro Fastpitch All-Stars. Surprisingly, the most eventful date on the tour came when she returned home to Tempe on July 10.
As she came up to bat in the top of the seventh inning, Brun's longtime boyfriend, Jason Garcia, proposed to her in front of 671 fans in attendance.
Brun ranked the night as likely her best ever memory on the softball field despite a career that saw her play in the College World Series, become a top 25 finalist for National Player of the Year in 2002 and leave ASU as the school's all time leader in home runs and RBIs.
"It tied both things in my life that I love in the same night," Brun said. "Getting to play and getting proposed to by the person that I love to death was extraordinary and to have all my family there, it was one of the best nights of my life."
Garcia had been planning the proposal for three weeks and Brun was one of the few people that didn't know what would transpire. Even her coach and teammates knew Garcia would pop the question.
Brun's longtime friend and former ASU teammate Erica Beach, ASU's all-time leader in strikeouts and wins, also knew what would happen. Beach started the game on the mound for the Arizona Majestic Stars, a team of former standouts from the state that was assembled for a pair of exhibition games against Brun's team.
Between the sixth and seventh innings, a promotion was done in which the Fastpitch All-Stars' mascot was to run around the bases with kids from the crowd. After turning around second, the mascot, who turned out to be Garcia in disguise, began to lose his outfit and reveal his identity.
Garcia then took Brun to home plate and grabbed a microphone before speaking words of endearment and getting on one knee for the proposal, all while Aerosmith's "I don't want to miss a thing" played over the speakers. Brun accepted as those in attendance gave a standing ovation.
"I knew [a proposal] was going to come within the year, but I had no clue it would be that night," Brun said. "I hadn't seen [Garcia] in three weeks to a month [because we were on tour].
"When he first pulled me toward home plate, I thought it would be something regarding my career at ASU. But once they started playing the song, I knew he was going to propose."
Garcia had planned to propose a few days earlier when the Fastpitch All-Stars were introduced at an Arizona Diamondbacks game, but that plan didn't materialize. Brun said she was "so much happier it ended up working out for him to do it at Farrington."
"At our last game [of the 2003 season], I never knew I'd play another game here," Brun added. "I had a lot of fans come to watch me play and that was very heartwarming. It was the best night."
To top off the evening, Brun hit a single in the bottom of the ninth inning to bring home teammate Erika Hanson as her team won the game 1-0.
Brun is the youngest player on the Fastpitch All-Stars and is currently second on the squad in batting through 12 games.
The team is traveling around the country to play exhibition games and hold clinics as a means to promote a new professional softball league that will begin play in 2004 and is supported my Major League Baseball. So far, six cities have been named to have teams in the league with several more potential markets.
Brun, who turned down an invitation to a tryout camp for the U.S. National Team so she could participate on the tour, said the National Pro Fastpitch league will be successful, unlike prior professional softball leagues.
"In five years, I see this league really taking off because of our support from MLB and from sponsors such as Majestic and Rawlings," she said.
"It's important to have [the league] because when you're a little girl, you dream to play college softball but after college, you're done. There are a lot of female athletes that deserve this league so people can come and watch them play just like in other sports."
Brun added she has every intention to play in the league and further her softball career. She also plans to be an undergraduate assistant with the Sun Devils next season as she will graduate with a degree in communications in the spring. Her and Garcia plan to wed when she is done with school.
Reach the reporter at christopher.drexel@asu.edu.
