When left fielder Jennifer Gilbert blasted a two-run home run over the left-center field wall in the fourth inning against Florida International on March 5, she put herself atop Ball State’s record book for most home runs in a career.
And she’s only a junior.
The home run was her sixth of the season, but the 39th in her career at Ball State. For a player that has broken a school record in her junior season, she’s only developed her power in the last few years.
“I actually didn’t start to hit home runs until my senior year of high school,” Gilbert said.
Her recent power source has helped Gilbert break a school record that was set in 2012 by former teammate Amanda Montalto. With another season and a half left of her Ball State career, Gilbert will only continue to pile onto a record that’s already hers.
Power isn’t just new to Gilbert, it’s a fairly new concept for the entire Ball State softball team.
In 2012, the team broke the school record for home runs in a season by a team and ended with 70 home runs in 55 games. In the two seasons before 2012, the team hit a combined 72 home runs; 44 in 2011 and 28 in 2010.
After 20 games this season, Ball State has hit 21 home runs, seven coming from Gilbert’s bat.
“I think she’s seeing the ball pretty well,” Ball State coach Craig Nicholson said of Gilbert. “She’s staying patient at the plate.”
The improved hitting, along with the power, has been attributed to a simple concept: practice.
“The big thing for our hitters is they know that they are going to get swings every day [in practice],” Nicholson said. “They get a chance daily to work on things and to feel good about what they are doing as a hitter.”
Nicholson said he works his hitters on hitting different pitches, in different zones, at different speeds. He’s also had Gilbert work on adjusting to pitchers that will pitch around her because of her power.
The work put in at practice has paid off, as the team’s slugging percentage has increased every season since 2010. Ball State had a slugging percentage of .543 in 2012 and currently have a slugging percentage of .510 this season.
Nicholson has said he doesn’t prefer to have a team that is heavy on power. He prefers to have speed and hitters that can slap-hit. But he also said it’s important to be able to adapt to his team’s strengths.
“Every hitter that comes up there has the ability to drive the ball,” Nicholson said after a game last season. “Even our kids at the bottom of the order that might not hit a ton of home runs or slap hits, they can hit the ball to the fence and they can get three bases.”
While Gilbert already has the Ball State home run record, she isn’t concerned about tacking onto her record for the remainder of her career.
“I am going to continue to do my thing and try to be successful at the plate,” she said. “Keep putting the ball in play, getting on base and scoring some runs.”
