It might have been more than a year since Bailey Stenson has donned a University of Washington uniform, but her time on the Husky fastpitch team is still very much on her mind.

For several months, Stenson, an Auburn High School graduate and integral part of the UW’s 2009 NCAA championship squad, has been putting together a book – “Who We Are Is Why We Win: Breaking It Down With Bailey” – about the team’s title run.

The book is a compilation of blogs she wrote for the university’s athletics website, www.gohuskies.com.

“After the 2009 championship, I went back and read the blogs from that year,” she said. “And it was just really cool, our journey and how we got there, all the things we went through. At the time I wrote those, I had been in the moment. I just wrote from the heart. And I just thought it would be something cool that the girls and people in the program would really like.”

Rosie Leuzinger, UW sports information director, approached Stenson about blogging the team’s story.

“(It was) just a behind-the-scenes-type thing,” Stenson said.

The blog was an immediate hit, Stenson drawing people in with her conversational tone.

“I like to talk a lot, and I pretty much just write like I talk, or as I think,” she said. “I don’t really delete or edit a lot. I think it makes people connect more with the people or things that I’m writing about. And that’s kind of the point.”

“Breaking It Down With Bailey” soon expanded into a Facebook page, that drew thousands of followers.

In February 2011, Stenson began putting together the book, intending to illustrate the magic she experienced as part of the 2009 championship run.

Despite frustrations with the self-publishing process – the book changed editors on five different occasions – Stenson is ecstatic the book is finally available.

“I’m supposed to have the first copy of the book, and I haven’t received one yet,” she said. “But I’ve had Facebook messages and Tweets from people saying they have the book, and they love it.”

Now that her book is out, Stenson is concentrating on staying busy.

“I have had four jobs since I’ve graduated,” Stenson said. “I don’t think my calling is to have a 9-to-5 office job.”

In addition to her current job at the Green Lake boat house coffee shop Stenson fills her time with extracurricular fun.

“I give hitting lessons, I work with softball teams,” she said. “I play slowpitch, I play outdoor soccer. I play basketball on Saturdays.”

She also completed the Seattle Rock and Roll Half-Marathon in June.

“That was cool,” she said. “It was kind of crazy because I didn’t really train for it.”

Although she has a degree in business communications, Stenson hopes to go back to school to get a teaching degree.

“I just have to figure out how to pay for it,” she said.

Until then, however, she’s content living and enjoying her life.

“I don’t really know what’s coming next. I pretty much live day-to-day,” she said. “But there are just so many things I want to do.”

Stenson’s book is available at www.authorhouse.com.