Bogado brings perspective

She has a presence on the mound. With her hair braided back and sunglasses hiding her intimidating stare, you can almost see the batters tremble when they step to the plate against sophomore pitcher Mariangee Bogado.\n"When Mariangee came to IU, we didn't know much about her," senior Val White said. "We had only heard about how she pitched and were excited to have her on the team." \nBogado started playing softball at age nine while she lived with her family in Mariana Estado, Venezuela. By age 15, she was playing for the Venezuelan national team.\n"I had to work hard to get on the national team," Bogado said. "It was such a huge experience for me."\nIU assistant coach Mickey Dean met Bogado while he was on the coaching staff of the Venezuelan national team.\n"I was just amazed by the team's enthusiasm and their understanding of the game," Dean said.\nThe governing body in Venezuela makes it a priority to educate their players. They thought one opportunity was to send some of their players to the United States so they could pursue a higher education. \nBogado moved to the United States in 2003, starting her collegiate career at Thomas University in Georgia. She made the All-American team while at Thomas but wanted to play on a bigger stage and transferred to IU. \nBogado grew up familiar to classes of 30 students or less and was in for a shock when she came to IU and its classes of more than 300 students. \nBogado said language was the greatest barrier she had to overcome when she moved from Venezuela to the United States.\nWhen White heard Bogado was coming to IU, she jumped at the chance to be her roommate.\n"Mariangee is an easy person to get along with, she has a great personality," White said. "At first I was a little nervous because I was going to be living with someone I had never met before from a different culture."\nBogado's other teammates had little trouble welcoming her as well. The team not only accepted Bogado and her athletic ability but also her unique perspectives on life.\n"She's a special person, very dynamic," coach Sara Hayes Nottger said. "Because of her experiences in life, she brings a little more perspective to our team and our game. When she is playing you can tell that she loves the game, and off the field she really cares about her teammates."\nAnother obstacle Bogado had to overcome was leaving behind her brother and parents when she came to the United States. While she talks to them on the phone often, she said she still misses seeing their faces. \n"They can't come to visit me," Bogado said. "It is very difficult to get a U.S. visa, and with everything going on in Venezuela right now, it is not a good idea to leave the country."\nAt IU, Bogado has been picking apart opponents with her pitching. She is currently third in the Big Ten in strikeouts and innings pitched and has led the Hoosiers in almost every pitching statistic. Bogado has also been a workhorse for IU, pitching ten complete games thus far this season.\nA testament to her popularity on the team are the chants the team uses to pump up its teammates from the dugout: many of them are in Spanish. \n"I've had fun with the team, teaching them basic cheers in Spanish," Bogado said. "My teammates are always coming up to me and asking me to translate words for them." \nBogado takes the mound against the Iowa Hawkeyes at 3 p.m. Friday and noon Saturday. The Hoosiers end their homestand against Illinois as part of a doubleheader, starting noon Sunday at the IU softball complex.\n-- Contact staff writer Mark Carlson at mecarlso@indiana.edu.