By brady

Posted on February 20, 2023

You didn’t have a huge role your freshman year, but last year, in your second season, you led the team in home runs. What do you think allowed you to make that jump?

My freshman year, I was actually coming off of Tommy John’s surgery. So, I was out for a year and a half, basically, of not playing softball at all. So, that whole first year was basically just a lot of development. I got a couple of at-bats, but when you don’t play for a year, you kind of lose that confidence. And so last year, we got Kayti Grable as our hitting coach and I think she really worked with me on not just my mechanics, but just like my mental game for hitting and stuff like that, and I just found my confidence again. I had a lot of fun last year just playing with everyone and just kind of getting that love for the game back.

Can you tell me a little bit about that mental side of it?

Since I was five and playing, you get into kind of a routine that you do before every at-bat. I didn’t play for a year and a half so I just kind of lost that routine that made me comfortable. So, I kind of had to find that again and that kind of self-talk and just preparing on deck and stepping into the box the correct way—just getting all that down so I felt comfortable in the box hitting.

Did you ever feel 100% last season?

Not defense wise, but hitting it didn’t hurt that much. Last year was kind of the year where I could grow without pain. It was a big year of defensive development.

Do you feel back now?

I feel 100% now, finally. I am trying to play defense and I’m a first baseman now. I used to be catcher, but we didn’t have any first baseman this year so they started having me work on first base last year and this was the first time I played first base. I feel like I’ve come a long way since my freshman year. I’m pretty happy with where I’m at right now.

What else do you think is going to help you take a big step?

In the summer, I stay here and strength train with some other teammates who stay here. I get a job here and just kind of work on improving myself…in a nonteam setting so that I can help the team out. The coaches are always available if lI have a question or something, but they can’t work with us, but I can always call them. And I have teammates here and we can kind of help each other out.

So, you’re playing first base this year, but can you tell me about that experience playing DH? How did you stay involved in the game with such long breaks between action?

When I was a DH last year, it actually took a lot of mental, I’d say, power. You warm up, you hit and then you’re sitting there doing nothing for two innings. So, what I would do to stay warm is I would talk to all the other players in the dugout about the game or I’d go into the cage on the side of the dugout and take a couple of swings. A lot of it was just mental preparation because hitting is a very mental part of the game.

Is being here your first big experience with strength and conditioning?

I did have some in high school but it was never so structured like NDSU is. The strength and conditioning coaches here have just helped me so significantly. They are a big reason why I am an athletic softball player. I’m a big person so it took a lot of work from her to make me athletic because I basically just came in with a lot of power. But now I can kind of move around. I can run the bases now because of strength and conditioning. It’s super beneficial and now I have a ton of fun with it.

What hobbies do you have outside of softball?

I like to go camping a lot. I’ve been camping in 28 states and I’ve been to 24 national parks and I have a goal to get to all of them. I have this water bottle, Hydro Flask, and I want stickers from all the national parks on it. I also love doing basically any type of sport activity. When I’m home in California, I’m never home— I’m always out playing beach volleyball or rock climbing with my friends.