Softball: Walsh settles in as Cajuns’ regular

Kevin Foote, The Advertiser, May 15, 2013

She’s capable of making the long throw from deep in the hole.

She’s capable of driving the ball a long way.

So when you watch UL red-shirt freshman second baseman Samantha Walsh play, it’s hard to imagine her being soft-spoken or timid.

And yet, Walsh will freely admit being more than a little apprehensive at several junctures during her two years so far with the Ragin’ Cajuns.

But as the Cajuns prepare for this weekend’s NCAA Regional in Baton Rouge, a much more bold Walsh is both ready for postseason wars and already looking forward to the rest of her college career.

“We’re ready,” Walsh said. “We’re really looking forward to it. I don’t think it’s going to be more pressure. Because it’s so close, a lot of our fans are going to be there. When we hear the fans, it helps me relax. It takes that pressure away.”

As calm and confident as Walsh currently is finishing off her first full season as a starter, that certainly wasn’t the case a year ago.

“Last year was kind of rough for me,” she said. “I’m from a small town with about 8,000 people (Ingleside, Texas near Corpus Christi). I came here and didn’t know many people.”

One of the first issues was dealing with her college professors. Missing a lot of classes on the road with the team, Walsh was quite reluctant to express her needs to make up her work.

“I was shy,” she said. “I didn’t know how to just walk up to a teacher and tell her, so I asked coach Mike (Lotief) if he could help me and he did. I don’t think a lot of college head coaches would do that. I don’t know if I could have made it anywhere else. He’s done so much to help me.”

In Walsh’s mind that process started with how much more personal her recruiting trip was compared to visits to other schools.

“They just treated me like family,” she said.

Initially during her red-shirt year, Walsh also noticed how popular the UL players were with the fans and how much they interacted with one another.

“I was amazed how all the starters would take pictures and sign autographs with the fans,” Walsh said. “Then once I became a starter, the same thing was happening. It’s fun. The fans here are incredible. They’ll see you in the mall and wish you good luck. This morning the people working in a smoothie shop recognized me. I couldn’t believe it.”

Walsh’s insecurities certainly stretched into her red-shirt freshman season as well. As the first two months of February unfolded, Walsh noticed that something was missing at the plate.

“At the beginning of the season, I was putting more pressure on myself to be more of a power hitter,” she said. “I mean everybody else was hitting home runs, so I figured that I should be hitting home runs too. Then I told myself that maybe I’ll just be more of a gap hitter.”

As it turned out, Walsh has hit her fair share with six homers and 22 RBIs as a freshman – the same amount of bombs as freshman Sara Corbello.

“They say that I hit much better when I’m leading off an inning and I think that’s because I forget about trying to drive the ball and just try to get on base,” Walsh said.

“On the home runs I did hit this year, I wasn’t trying to hit a homer on any of them. I was just trying to stay inside the ball.”

In time, Lotief is convinced that Walsh will hit with power.

“She’s definitely shown flashes offensively,” Lotief said. “She’s just not consistent right now. She’s strong and she’s got a strong lower body, so I definitely think she will. You can just see that she’s got all the tools. She’s got the hand-eye. she’s very competitive and she plays the game hard. I think she’s got a lot of upside.”

Those early-season insecurities at the plate were then dwarfed by a late February ankle injury to starting shortstop Nerissa Myers.

Walsh didn’t start the very next game replacing Myers at shortstop, but quickly became her replacement until Myers returned.

“When it happened, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh,’ ” Walsh said.

She had played shortstop in high school and had long-term plans of playing there at UL eventually.

“I was thinking that I had time to work on that,” Walsh said. “Even after playing it while Nerissa was out, I’m still thinking about working on that mentally this summer. There’s so much more pressure and responsibility at shortstop.”

Making matters worse, that first start came at Texas. Needless to say, that shy little girl from tiny little Ingleside had a few butterflies.

“When they hit the first ground ball to me, I was like, ‘Oh no, it’s coming to me,’” she laughed. “But after that I just relaxed and played my game.

“I noticed that when I just reacted at shortstop and didn’t think about it, I played better. I just had to let loose and have fun.”

That basically was the advice Myers gave her from the beginning. Just like before when it was Lotief’s advice and help she drew upon, Walsh leaned on the Cajuns’ seniors during her scary moments early on this season.

“Nerissa is so open,” Walsh said. “She tells you that you can talk to her about anything. The seniors are always there for you.

“She just told me that I needed to relax and not try to change anything.”

Walsh also found help from the younger girls on the team. During her red-shirt season, former pitcher Maggie Ham was the only familiar face with the two playing together on a traveling team. Once Ham transferred, though, Walsh wondered if she’d feel more alone this year.

“This freshman class is super,” Walsh said. “None of them are judgmental. We’re all like one big family.”

That comfort zone soon became evident on the field as well.

During that stretch as Myers’ replacement at shortstop, Walsh showed that she’s likely to be the frontrunner to replace the All-American shortstop once this season is over. She regularly showed off her strong arm and quickly made the tough plays look routine … even for this small town girl.

“There’s no question that she has the skills to be a Division I starting shortstop,” Lotief said.

And one day, she’ll have some stories to tell about her humble beginnings to what UL is sure will be a special career.