Pauly among impact freshmen in WCWS
OKLAHOMA CITY -- It wasn't so very long ago that freshmen weren't even eligible to play NCAA sports. Now you can't spend a week in Oklahoma City without tripping over some precocious newcomer making a name for herself on softball's biggest stage.
Whether it was Michigan's Samantha Findlay hitting a home run to knock off UCLA and clinch a championship two years ago, Northwestern's Tammy Williams and her purple Band-Aid taking the tournament by storm or Arizona's Laine Roth adding key hits to help finish off Williams and the other Wildcats last year, freshmen have been conspicuous contributors in Oklahoma City in recent years.
Seven of eight teams in this year's Women's College World Series will start at least one freshman. Some, including Northwestern, will likely start more than one. Arizona coach Mike Candrea knows his way around the college softball landscape better than anyone, and as the overall game has grown, he has seen young players become more and more viable in pressure situations like the World Series.
"It's twofold," Candrea explained. "One, I think the competitive schedules -- there are more competitive teams out there, so these kids are used to playing in nice arenas with lots of people in the stands, which helps. Back in the old days, you might have had a school walk in here that averaged 100 people. And all of a sudden, you're playing in front of 2,000 or 3,000 and it's a little tough. These kids are not fazed by that. And two, getting through postseason now really refines any player. Once you've gone through that, then getting here is almost just going out there and continuing to do what you do."
Northwestern's Nicole Pauly is perhaps the freshman most likely to play a decisive role this week, hitting cleanup for the No. 2 seed. Hitting fourth for much of the season behind arguably the game's best top of the order in Katie Logan, Williams and Garland Cooper, Pauly has piled up 61 RBIs and 13 home runs to go with a .307 batting average. The Big Ten Freshman of the Year, who ranks 17th in the country in RBIs per game (1.0), Pauly would have been in the conversation as the nation's top freshman hitter if not for the all-around brilliance of Oregon's Jenn Salling.
But Pauly didn't trot out to second base in her first college game as a polished star in waiting. In fact, facing Texas A&M on that February morning at the Kajikawa Classic in Arizona in front of a modest crowd, the freshman looked like, well, a freshman, going 0-for-3 and committing an error after an injury to Williams forced her to fill in at shortstop.
"It was a big deal," Pauly admitted. "I was kind of anxious when I was out there. I wasn't really calm and I think that really played into how I played and how people saw me as a player as a freshman. I don't know, I kind of put the pressure on myself and I thought there were a lot of expectations. But once I kind of shed that idea, then I was more calm and I just let my talent pull through."
Back at second base for the team's second game that day, Pauly committed another error, but she also added an RBI with her first career hit. In 59 subsequent games, she's committed just six more errors in the field, and beginning with a home run against Stanford in Northwestern's third game, she's become a force at the plate.
"We knew it was going to take games for her to get into a groove," Northwestern associate coach Caryl Drohan said. "What people don't talk about is how she's developed defensively. They just see her home runs numbers, they see her batting fourth for our team, but where Nicole Pauly has made the biggest strides are her defensive contributions to the team."
It's that willingness to accept something less than total success and respond to coaching, as much as a big frame and quick bat, that sells Caryl Drohan and head coach (and sister) Kate Drohan on a prospect. In Pauly's case, that meant Caryl scouting her for one weekend and convincing Kate to take her sight unseen.
"We talk about things we may want to change, and you can kind of evaluate if they're open to those changes," Caryl said of recruiting the right fits for the program. "If they start to ask questions about it, then you can tell that they're interested in it and they're going to put the time into making the changes. If kids are kind of just empty when you're talking to them about it, then you know that they're not going to make that kind of investment into it."
That involved almost a complete makeover for Pauly, shifting to second base after a lifetime at shortstop and altering a swing with plenty of raw promise but little technical precision at the plate. None of which derailed her progress, even as she was also working her way back from an ACL tear suffered playing basketball as a senior in high school.
"She makes adjustments so quickly," Caryl said. "You could tell her to stand on her head and she'd do it in a heartbeat; she'd figure out how to do it quickly. That's what is awesome about her."
Pauly leads the Wildcats with two home runs and six RBIs in five games this postseason, stepping up at key moments just as she did throughout the Big Ten season. The nervous apprehension that showed through on the field all those weeks ago against Texas A&M has been replaced by a different feeling rumbling around in the pit of her stomach. She may not have the experience of a four-year starter, but just as we're all the oldest we've ever been, she's the most experienced she's ever been.
"I was definitely more anxious when regionals started, and I was excited instead of that nervous feeling," Pauly said. "Because I knew I had put the hard work in and I knew I could do it, so that was kind of reassuring for the postseason."
More and more often in the World Series, it seems that if a child isn't leading the champions, then she's at least helping point them in the right direction. That's the path Pauly's been following since a rough morning in Arizona.
Graham Hays is a regular contributor to ESPN.com's softball coverage. E-mail him at Graham.Hays@espn3.com.
