Every time Odessa College softball player Mason Barclay steps up to bat, just a few things are going through her mind.
“I just tell myself to hit the ball and not swing at bad pitches,” Barclay, a freshman from Langley, British Columbia, Canada said.
It sounds simple and that’s probably because Barclay has made it look too easy at times this season.
It’s not often that Barclay doesn’t get a hit when she’s at home plate.
So far, she leads the NJCAA in batting average with .558.
During this season, Barclay has registered 72 hits, 17 home runs and 71 RBIs.
However, she didn’t expect to be leading the nation with her batting average this year.
“I’ve always been a hitter, so I was hoping for that to happen but I didn’t expect to be doing this well,” Barclay said.
She feels that she’s gained more confidence in her hitting abilities since the season started.
“It’s made me a better player and I know that I can count on my teammates to bring me up if anything bad happens,” Barclay said.
Her performance has been one of the many things that have helped Odessa College (41-12) advance to the NJCAA World Series for the fourth consecutive year.
The Lady Wranglers will enter as the No. 13 seed, opening up against No. 20 seed Trinidad State in the play-in game at 11 a.m. Monday at Choccolocco Park in Oxford, Ala.
“I think it’s just a really cool experience and it shows that all of our hard work throughout the season has paid off,” Barclay said. “We’re excited to get to experience nationals.”
It wasn’t always easy at times for the Lady Wranglers, who are coming off two consecutive third-place finishes at nationals.
Eleven of Odessa College’s losses came in the non-conference portion of the season which included matchups against other nationally-ranked teams such as McLennan Community College and Galveston College.
“I think at the beginning of the season, when we lost a few games, it affected our confidence,” Barclay said. “But we had a team meeting and we talked about it. Ever since then, we’ve been looking up.”
After Western Junior College Athletic Conference play began, the Lady Wranglers have been peaking at the right time, going 23-1 in the conference regular season before winning a fourth-straight Region V West Tournament championship last week.
A 23-3 victory over Howard College last Saturday at Maner Park in Lubbock clinched the Region V West Tournament for the Lady Wranglers.
Barclay said she and her teammates were stunned to not have to play Midland College (the only team to beat the Lady Wranglers in the conference regular season) twice in the tournament.
“Yeah, that was crazy,” Barclay said. “I don’t think anyone of us expected that. But we were really excited. We always have good games against Howard College. We were looking forward to it.”
However, Barclay said the amount of success from previous Lady Wrangler softball teams did put some pressure on her teammates going into this year as they knew what was expected of them.
“I think, at the beginning, it was a little bit of pressure because last year, Odessa College did so well,” Barclay said. “It put a lot of pressure on us.”
However, despite being a No. 13 seed at nationals, Barclay and her teammates think they can play with anybody.
Team chemistry has been one reason for the Lady Wranglers’ success.
“I think our bond, on and off the field, has helped us throughout this season,” Barclay said. “We just know that we can count on everyone and each other. That’s helped us become much closer.”
Despite being from Canada, there wasn’t a lot for Barclay to get used to when she came out to West Texas this past fall. That is, except for the weather.
“Honestly, it wasn’t that hard to adjust to being here,” Barclay said. “I can call my family and I can call my friends. The hardest part was how hot it gets here because I wasn’t used to it, but after a month, I had adjusted to it and now when I go home, it’ll be very cold.”
She’ll be hoping to go home this summer with a national championship before returning to Odessa this fall for her sophomore season.
