It’s fair to say that college softball is often thought of as college baseball’s little sister.
I can only imagine fans of the sport 10 years ago must have said, “When she grows up, she’s going to be hot.”
Not that I would say or have ever heard any of my friends say such a thing…
The point being: College softball is a relatively young sport going through changes that have made it more attractive to the outside world.
Softball became an NCAA Championship sport in 1982, 35 years after baseball, and has largely been thought of as a pitchers’ game.
But since 2000, teams have increased their scoring from 3.56 runs per game to 3.98, their ERA from 2.53 to 3.16 and their home runs per game from .314 (a record high at the time) to .570.
The spike in scoring has made softball more watchable for the average fan and perhaps most importantly, softball has been able to incorporate one of America’s true loves into the game — home runs.
Florida has flaunted these “developments” as much as any other team in the nation.
The Gators lead the country in home runs per game (2.07) and rank third in runs scored (7.67), thanks in large part to senior Francesca Enea, whose 14 home runs this season have raised her career total to 55, putting her just five away from the Southeastern Conference career record, held by former Alabama slugger Kelly Kretschman.
UF coach Tim Walton said that there are a variety of factors that have led to the change in the complexion on the sport, among them stronger and better conditioned athletes, an increased level of training for hitters that was only previously available to pitchers and a move to taller more athletic players.
“The kid was born to hit,” Walton said of Enea, who stands at 5-foot-8. “She’s just an amazing, amazing hitter.”
Obviously, she’s not the only one launching balls out of Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium, as five other players have logged more than five bombs so far this season.
One of those players is junior Kelsey Bruder, who hit 16 round-trippers a year ago and is currently tied for third on the team with seven.
“There aren’t very many pitchers who are absolutely lights-out dominating as there were previously,” she said. “ERAs are up across the board everywhere.”
Enea echoed that sentiment:
“The first couple years (of my career), it just always used to be pitcher dominated and you’d be lucky just to get a 2-for-3 day off a good pitcher,” she said. “Now, there really isn’t one dominant pitcher except for (Washington’s) Danielle Lawrie.”
Lawrie is the reigning Women’s College World Series Most Outstanding Player, as she led the Huskies to a finals win over the Gators last season.
But even she got tagged for a combined 10 earned runs in two semifinal games against Georgia in Oklahoma.
In fact, teams averaged four runs per game at the 2009 WCWS, right in line with the season’s averages even though most of the best pitchers in the country were there.
While pitchers across the nation, including UF’s ace Stephanie Brombacher (2.21 ERA), may not be so happy about the newfound prominence of the long ball and offense in general, those three- and four-run leads aren’t so safe anymore, making the games a little more compelling to watch.
Softball now has all the excitement of baseball neatly packaged into a seven-inning game that takes half as long and moves twice as quick.
Older brother might have to find a way to dress her in turtle necks and sweatpants because the hot younger sister might start stealing some attention away during those long summer months.
