Kaitlin Bradley has shown this season she is a lot more than “muscles.”
The New Hope High School sophomore earned that nickname earlier this season after she slugged two home runs in a game against Saltillo.
While that moniker might not be the best one for the lithe infielder, it fits in another way because she has played an expanded role this season for New Hope, which begins defense of its Class 5A slow-pitch softball title at 11 a.m. today against Yazoo City in a best-of-three series at Lady Trojan Field.
“She is a very poised player,” New Hope coach Tabitha Beard said. “It really took (New Hope High assistant softball) coach (Laura Lee) Holman to make me realize she is just a fluid person.”
Bradley also plays on the school’s girls basketball team and is a fixture on New Hope’s fast-pitch team. Beard often forgets Bradley is as young as she is because so many things come naturally to the multi-sport standout.
This season, Bradley has matured into a leadoff hitter who has found a way to spark her teammates at just the right times this season.
“I think about when she first made the team as a seventh-grader,” Beard said. “She has really become more of an offensive threat. We put her in the leadoff spot early. She has done a good job of being a rally-starter. It is almost a guarantee if she gets on base we’re going to score that inning. That is a nice confidence to have.”
Bradley is leading the way with a batting average of better than .500. As a leadoff hitter, Bradley said she has had to adjust to being a team leader.
“Most of the times I hit it where I want it to go, and sometimes it just goes,” Bradley said. “I work on it every day. Every time I get into the batter’s box I look and see where I need to place it.”
Bradley said she has grown more comfortable in placing the ball in the past two years. She feels comfortable shifting her feet or her body to drive a ball up the middle or down the right-field line. That’s an advanced skill for a player who started playing fast-pitch softball when she was 9 or 10 years old. Back then, she didn’t know anything about slow-pitch softball. It didn’t take long for her to accept the challenge of a new sport, or a new role at the top of the order.
Like any hitter, but especially one who sets the tempo, Beard said players have to pick out their pitch — and only that one — to drive it. She said Bradley has worked hard to perfect that skill.
“You have to realize what pitch you can be successful with,” Beard said. “You get wide-eyed, and you know you want to go here and you get anxious. She is not that person. She is one of the few who can really say, ‘I have runners here, I need to hit the ball here, this is the pitch I need to do that with.”
Bradley said the home runs were “pleasant surprises,” and that she would like to hit an inside-the-park home run. If New Hope advances to the Class 5A state title series, Bradley will get a chance to test her ability to hit a gap on a VA Field with a 300-foot fence.
“I think I have improved most in hitting and getting on base,” Bradley said. “I don’t try to hit a home run. I just try to hit it in the hole or hit a hard line drive somewhere.”
Beard said Bradley has done a great job lifting her teammates to another strong season.
“She got up with a friend of ours and they really started working hard on their own,” Beard said. “I really got on her one day about a pitch she had watched. She said, ‘Coach Beard, I am looking for this pitch.’ I started watching and I noticed she might take strikes I might not want her to take, but she was able to get her pitch. Her hard work outside of her rolled over to the game and the game rolled over to a lot of confidence.”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.