Moira Collins

Moira Collins thought she was done with softball. She was injured and ready to hang up her cleats for good. But her old travel coach, Rick Tedisco Jr., who had taken the reins at Hudson Valley Community College, thought she might want to give it one more shot.

“I was transferring to Hudson Valley because I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do academically,” Collins said. “And Coach Rick was very persistent, texting me and saying ‘do you want to join the team?’ and ‘you always have a spot here.'”

Still, Collins insisted her softball career was over. Finally, after an injury left Tedisco’s Hudson Valley squad in need of a pitcher, he decided to try Collins one more time. “I said okay, this time I’ll try it out and see if it still hurts to pitch,” Collins said. “And it didn’t! And ever since that first day back pitching, I haven’t had any pain and I’ve had a lot of fun.”

Collins brought the Vikings to new heights with her pitching. Her first season with the team saw the Vikings go 20-10 and reach the region championship series before losing their final two games to Corning. Collins said that failure drove her and her teammates to aim higher the following year. “We knew what it felt like to lose when we knew we could have won,” Collins said. “We came back this year knowing what that felt like and how close we were.”

In 2025, Hudson Valley got revenge on Corning in the region championship series and was ranked as high as 8th in the NJCAA Coaches Poll, qualifying as the 5th overall seed at nationals with a 23-7 record and a near perfect 16-1 record in the region. Collins was NJCAA Region 3 Player of the Year after she finished with a team-best 14-5 record and 133 strikeouts, placing her second on the all-time strikeout list at Hudson Valley.

Like Collins, Hudson Valley took time away from softball as the college didn’t have a season in 2019, 2020, or 2021. But, also like Collins, the Vikings found success once they returned to softball. The team advanced to its first NJCAA Championship tournament since 2015. Collins became just the third Viking ever to be a first-team all-American. “It means a lot to me for my hard work to be recognized,” she said. “You see those lists year after year, and I look at this year’s list and think ‘wow, that’s actually me.'”

“Mo has shown remarkable strength and determination,” Tedisco Jr. said. “She has battled through injuries yet has never given up. Her grit and positive mindset have made her a better player and teammate.”

Even though Hudson Valley may not have been where Collins imagined herself playing when she was a star for nearby Tamarac High School, she said it was a great opportunity to play in front of her friends and family. “All of my family lives close, and I have a very big extended family,” Collins said. “Whenever I had my games, a lot of my family would show up. It was really special that they can come watch me and that they support me as well as they do.”

Collins enrolled at Hudson Valley unsure of what she wanted to study and certain that her softball career was over. She leaves the college with a new softball career and a new major. Collins will continue her softball career at Southern Connecticut where she plans to major in biology. “I’ve always liked science, and then I saw it in action when I was in physical therapy myself,” Collins said. “It’s really cool to see the science side of recovery and sports and fitness.”

A true student-athlete, Collins posted a 4.0 GPA in the very same semester she was setting records and being named an all-American. “I have no doubt that her perseverance, dedication and hard work will allow her to be successful in both academics and sports as she continues at the four-year level,” Tedisco Jr. said.

As she sets out for her next step at Southern Connecticut, Collins represents something special to Hudson Valley athletic director Justin Hoyt. “I have had the privilege of witnessing Moira’s exceptional dedication to athletics, academics, and her community,” he said. “She continues to lead by example and represents the best of what Hudson Valley can offer any student-athlete.”