Freshman Taylor Becerra is a leader in ASU softball batting average and is one of the top slap hitters in the Pac-12.
She's also one of the better players at bat tricks.
Playing in Reno with her travel team in high school, she and some teammates saw a video of players performing bat tricks. In these, the athlete flips the bat and attempts and hit a ball to conclude it.
“We saw this video on Twitter, and we had a competition to see who could do it first," Becerra said.
She worked to perfect the trick with a teammate, and the two posted a video of it on Twitter, where it got 250 retweets and almost 400 likes.
Pt. 2 w/ A.D @alyssadicarlo2 pic.twitter.com/2gZKEdtJDC
— Taylor Becerra (@TaylorBecerra) July 28, 2015
Even outside of her flashy bat work, her competitive spirit has helped her as she entered ASU. She played shortstop in high school, but when she realized there was an open spot at third base, she wanted that starting role.
“When I first got here, I was told not to expect to start.” Becerra said. “All the girls who come here have started at some point in their softball career, so I knew it was going to be a challenge.”
She's grown accustomed to improving her play. By the age of 12, Becerra knew that she wanted to take her softball career to a level of higher competition. While trying out for her first travel ball team, one of the coaches saw something in Becerra that he knew would help her flourish as a softball player in the future.
“They basically told me to switch over to see if I could slap,” Becerra said. “And with my quickness and size, they knew right away that I needed to start slap hitting.”
From then on, Becerra continued to be a switch hitter, but there was something about slap hitting that played an important role to her.
“At that age, I know it sounds crazy but I already started to think about college,” Becerra said. “And I knew coaches weren’t going to want me for my size, so the switch to slap hitting really played into my college aspect.”
Her high school career was the focal point in her progression as a slap hitter. Becerra grew up in Whittier, California where she attended La Serna High School. Her drive for the chance to play at the collegiate level really dazzled during her junior and senior year.
As a junior, Becerra hit .451 with 24 RBIs and an on-base percentage of .513. Although posting one of the highest batting averages on the team, Becerra continued to push herself to be better. In her senior season, she had another impressive batting average of .413 and scored 39 runs for her team. Becerra was named the Whittier Daily News All-Area team her senior year after leading the team to the CIF-SS Division 3 Softball Championship.
“That was the highlight of my whole high school career,” Becerra said. “It was even more memorable because I was able to play next to some of my friends that I had played with while growing up.”
Her dream to play in college became reality when she signed to play softball at ASU, a historically strong school in a competitive conference.
“I didn’t even know they were interested in me,” Becerra said. “So when I found out, I knew I needed to play there.”
Co-interim head coach Robert Wagner talked about offense being a big factor when deciding who got a starting spot on the 2016 roster, but Becerra's defensive work helped her take the role.
"Becerra proved and fought for that starting spot," Wagner said. "Her defensive skills also reflect why she locked in that position at third base."
She displayed her offensive skills and proved that she deserved to be the role. Now, Becerra's .427 batting average leads the team, is sixth-best in the Pac-12 and is the sixth-highest batting average among all freshmen in the league this season.
Becerra plans to grow as a player throughout the next year years playing on this Sun Devil team. She considers herself a quiet player on the team, so she thinks her communication skills will flourish throughout the next couple seasons.
Co-interim head coach Letty Olivarez reflected on Becerra's hard driven work ethic on and off the field, calling her a team player who works hard to help the team.
"She's one person that I think the girls always look to and feel like they can count on," Olivarez said. "It always important to have a player like that on the team."
Related links:
ASU unable to crack losing streak, falls to Oregon in series finale
ASU softball loses eighth straight after Oregon's grand slam
Reach the reporter at lmbrunet@asu.edu or follow @Leah_brunette on Twitter.
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