FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Evan O’Kelly Director of Communications O: (406) 657-2130 E: evan.okelly@msubillings.edu Wednesday, March 22, 2017 New Faces: MSUB Softball Freshman Emma Tucker
Transitioning into a starting role in MSUB’s outfield, freshman Emma Tucker is off to a strong start to her collegiate career this season with the Yellowjackets. MSUB SPORTS – The six pitches Montana State University Billings freshman leftfielder Emma Tucker spent standing in the on-deck circle on Sunday felt like an eternity. When the final ball was issued and teammate Jessica Bagnell trotted to first base with a walk, Tucker took her turn digging into the left-handed batter’s box. Pinch-runner Amanda Barham was at third, and sophomore catcher Madison Kelly occupied second, the bases staring the freshman in the face, loaded. Just over the right shoulder of the Western Oregon University pitcher, the scoreboard at Avitus Group Stadium read 1811, the bright red lights reminding Tucker and the Yellowjackets that they still had a long way to go before getting back into the game. But possessing a rare calmness in the biggest moment of her young career so far, Tucker knew what her role had to be.
“I knew that I had to hit away instead of try to slap,” said Tucker, who stood in with just one home run to her name in her softball life. Fans awaited in skeptical anticipation, hoping to witness a miracle comeback but deep down acknowledging it had the slimmest of possibilities of actually occurring. Then Tucker connected, and eyes all around the park began to grow the size of softballs. WOU center fielder Zoe Clark galloped backwards, tracing the trajectory of the high fly ball expertly before being greeted by the fence. Tucker’s heart temporarily sank, as she reached first base, and her long drive landed in the palm of Clark’s glove on the other side of the fence. There was something extra that came along with Tucker’s swing however, a kind of final push from the softball gods insisting that the rally keep going. Rolling off Clark’s glove, which by now was fully extended over the fence, the ball fell to the earth in a seemingly extended tacit from the reality of the game, before pandemonium burst out of the third-base dugout. Tucker couldn’t suppress a scream, but it was lost among the fiery roar of her teammates as they assumed the all-too-familiar position of huddling in a semi-circle around home plate. “It felt really good off the bat, but when I saw her glove reach over I panicked a little,” Tucker described. “Running into home and having my teammates screaming and slamming me on the head was the coolest thing.” Tucker at the plate moments before crushing her first collegiate home run – a grand slam.
The score was now 18-15, and when Megan Dettling hit her second home run of the inning three batters later, the Yellowjackets had turned a 10-run deficit into an 18-18 ballgame in one of the most remarkable comebacks in school history. Though Western Oregon went on to win with a single run in the top of the eighth inning, MSUB’s statement had been made. The comeback bid was not simply to salvage a win in the series, it would have given the team a four-game sweep of the Wolves had the ‘Jackets emerged victorious. Perhaps more important than the win however was what it said about the team, starting with a rising star freshman in Tucker. Poke your head into one of the Yellowjackets’ practices and you’ll find first-year head coach Jessica Rayman lifting baseballs – not softballs – off her bat to her outfielders to practice their reads. “A baseball flies a lot faster, and it forces them to react quicker,” Rayman commented on the exercise. “When they get to a softball, it moves a lot slower, and I think that has helped Emma and the other outfielders react to the ball off the bat. When we switch over to the softball, they cover all kinds of ground.”
The defensive drill brings Tucker back to her little league days, where she played baseball with the boys all the way through third grade. “I had played baseball my whole life up until then, and an umpire told me to check out fastpitch softball,” Tucker said. “I got into it and loved it right away, and have stuck with it ever since.” Tucker’s father Mark had the savvy to place the bat over her left shoulder from a young age, encouraging his daughter to adopt a left-handed approach at the plate. As she developed above-average speed and worked on the art of slapping, he knew she could become a versatile threat in the batter’s box. Throwing right-handed allowed Tucker to play infield until she reached the 14U level, when she was transformed into her current position as an outfielder. A native of Vancouver, Wash., Tucker always had aspirations to play collegiately and credits her high-school coaches with helping her get onto the recruiting radar. It was a unique connection that familiarized Tucker with MSUB, her coach Julie Harris being the mother of former Yellowjacket all-star catcher Brittney Sanders (’15). The summer after her final prep season, Tucker played on the Washington Illusion fastpitch team and was introduced to one of her current teammates in MSUB freshman left-handed pitcher Maddy Lincoln. “Maddy told me great things about MSUB, and when I came on my visit I clicked well with the team,” Tucker commented on visiting MSUB after Lincoln had committed. “I liked the feel of the team and the campus in general, and I thought it would be a good fit academically and softball wise.” Tucker is a business major focusing on marketing and management, and she has long-term visions of doing marketing for a non-profit organization. Through the first 23 games of her collegiate career, Tucker is batting .348 (8-for-23), and has scored nine runs while driving in seven. Her first opportunities to see the field came early in the year off the bench, and she scored a run in 4 of 5 pinch-running appearances this season. Her first college start came on March 10 at Saint Martin’s, and she’s gotten on base in all but one game since then. “Emma definitely understood her role early on in the season, and has taken full advantage of her opportunities,” Rayman said. “No matter what she is asked to do, she is ready to go, and she has continued to work hard in practice. We are starting to see these positive results now that she’s had the chance to start for us. Emma is only continuing to get better, and I am excited for what the future is going to bring for her here at MSUB.” Though she has been used to hitting in the first or second spot in the lineup throughout her career, Tucker has firmly supplanted herself in the nine-hole this season. From her perspective, she couldn’t have better role models to look up to than senior Bella Rovens and juniors Heather Tracy and Barham, who are all left-handed slap hitters that roam the outfield.
“Everyone has been super supportive of me, and those three have really helped me a lot,” Tucker commented on the upperclassmen. “I know pretty much any time I get on base, that they have a chance to move me around because they’re amazing hitters.” In Rayman’s eyes, Tucker provokes similarities to Tracy, who was an all-region selection as a sophomore last year and is currently No. 3 in the NCAA in hits with 52 this season. “We definitely see a little bit of Heather in her,” Rayman said. “She can slap, has that short game, can bunt, and has power that she showed with the home run. She is a triple threat, sees the ball well, and makes solid contact consistently.” Tucker cites her goals as improving in the outfield and keeping her opponents on their toes with her approach at the plate. “I want to stay really versatile so they never know what is coming,” Tucker said. “I also want to help the team do well in the GNAC, and I think we have a really good shot at that this year.” The Yellowjackets are in third place in the conference standings at 8-8 in league play, and are next in action this weekend on the road with a doubleheader at Minot State University on Sunday. Tucker’s career couldn’t be getting off to a better start, and that was all too apparent for Rayman from her perspective in the third-base coach’s box as she witnessed her freshman’s grand slam. “That was a major pressure situation, and off bat I knew she got solid contact, but didn’t know if it’d be enough to get over the fence,” said Rayman. “To see it tip the outfielder’s glove, then pop out and go over, gave me goosebumps for how excited I was for her. For a freshman to step up and keep our momentum alive was awesome. One of the most fun parts of coaching is seeing them get to react like that in having those moments.”
Rayman congratulates Tucker at third base during her grand slam Sunday against Western Oregon.
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