When Alexis Walkden finishes her college softball career in 2018, she will go down as one of the greatest hitters in Seton Hall history. The Texas native holds the single-season home run record with 20, and through three seasons she has clubbed 41 homers, putting her in range of the school career mark of 59. Her abilities with the bat made her the BIG EAST Rookie of the Year in 2015 and the conference\u2019s Player of the Year in 2017.<\/p>\n
And yet when Walkden started at Seton Hall as the team\u2019s third baseman, she wasn\u2019t allowed to step up to the plate. \u201cIn the first week of her freshman year we actually hit for her,\u201d says Seton Hall coach Paige Smith. \u201cAnd she agreed with it. She\u2019s like, \u2018I wouldn\u2019t have let me hit either, I was hitting terribly.\u2019\u201d Walkden finally got the chance to swing the bat in her third game.<\/p>\n
The result? A home run. One game later, Walkden slugged two more home runs. \u201cShe hasn\u2019t been hit for since,\u201d Smith jokes. Walkden always seemed destined for a life on the diamond, even though softball wasn\u2019t her first sport. \u201cMy dad\u2019s side of the family is a huge baseball family,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo that\u2019s what got me into it originally.\u201d Her uncle, Mike Walkden, was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1991, and she started playing T-ball \u201cat like 3 or 4 years old, and I played baseball for a really long time.\u201d She eventually made the switch to softball, becoming a star in suburban San Antonio. The Seton Hall coaching staff spotted her at a tournament in California.<\/p>\n
Walkden researched the school and saw \u201cit was up by New York and was going to be a really different experience,\u201d she says. \u201cI had offers to stay in Texas, but the idea of trying something new was really cool.\u201d The Pirates staff didn\u2019t anticipate that Walkden would dominate with her hitting when they recruited her. \u201cWe offered her a scholarship,\u201d Smith says, \u201cand had never seen her get a base hit. It was the intangibles.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since that first season with the Pirates, Walkden has grown into a feared hitter and a strong leader, a player who worries little about her individual accomplishments and more about the team\u2019s success. \u201cI like being a leader in more of a supportive way instead of getting to practice and telling you exactly what to do,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
She also leads on the field. Walkden defends against slaps and bunts and excels with her glove at third base, although she played shortstop most of her life.<\/p>\n
And with the bat, she never has stopped hitting. Walkden followed up her record-setting 20-homer freshman campaign with eight home runs in 2016 and 13 more in 2017. The right-handed slugger has an unorthodox hitting style, according to her coach, who has marveled at her skills for three seasons. \u201cShe replants her rear foot and also replants her left foot,\u201d Smith says. \u201cThe double plant thing she only does in games. \u2026 Most coaches would have tried to change her swing by now. We never tried to fix anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walkden wants to teach high-school math after graduation, and she might also coach. But for now, she has one more season and she needs 18 more homers to match the career record held by Laura Taylor \u201905. \u201cI have 150 people that tell me [about the record] so it\u2019s hard to forget,\u201d Walkden says with a laugh. \u201cOnce the season starts, it\u2019s not something I really think about.\u201d<\/p>\n
But just as it\u2019s been ever since she started swinging a bat for the Pirates, Walkden\u2019s hitting will be what everyone in the BIG EAST talks about.<\/p>\n
Written by Sean Fury<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When Alexis Walkden finishes her college softball career in 2018, she will go down as one of the greatest hitters in Seton Hall history.<\/p>\n