By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
After spending their whole lives growing up in one town, a lot of high school athletes have their hearts set on getting away and seeing somewhere new when it comes time to pick a college.
Taylor Brees
Former Shawnee Heights multi-sport standout Taylor Brees was one of those student-athletes, but after a lot of thinking, Brees decided she wasn't going anywhere, a decision that has paid immediate dividends for both Brees and Brenda Holaday's 13-2 Washburn University softball team.
"I didn't want to stay here and Washburn actually never even crossed my mind,'' Brees said. "I was looking at St. Louis University and I was pretty heavily leaning on that. And then I just got a random text one day from Holaday and she wanted me to come on a visit.
"I was like, 'Oh yeah, I'll go but I'm not really thinking that's where I'll end up,' because I was so heavy on SLU (an NCAA Division I school) at that point. Then I came and I was like, 'Oh, this is not what I thought it was.' I was pleasantly surprised and I ended up deciding that this was probably my best fit.''
Brees was told that she would have an opportunity to play this spring as a freshman for the Ichabods, which helped cement her decision.
"That was a big thing that went into my decision was that (coach Holaday) basically told me that I could have an almost immediate impact whereas SLU, they were kind of a little bit more wishy washy about that,'' Brees said. "And Washburn also has such great facilities, so it was kind of a combination of those things.''
The 5-foot-3 Brees knew she had to earn her way into the Washburn lineup and went about doing that over the fall and winter while also making the position switch from second base to right field.
"I was really nervous that first game and, honestly, all fall and winter I wasn't really sure that I would be starting,'' she said. "I was kind of like on the bubble there, like that 10th man in softball terms. But the day before we were leaving for Texas, they put me in lineup. So I kind of only had a day before I knew.
"That first game I was really nervous and when I heard my name in the lineup I was like, 'Oh my gosh, this is really happening.' But I went up there and I got a hit my first at bat and after that hit I was like, 'OK, you're fine, you can do this.' ''
Holaday, a former state-champion coach at Washburn Rural and the winningest coach in Washburn softball history, said Brees has taken advantage of every opportunity she's been given.
"She absolutely has,'' Holaday said. "To be a freshman and come into a program with a lot of established kids that should be tabbed for certain starting positions and all the transition that goes into playing at the college level and being a college student and moving away from home, the transition and the changes that she's made are a credit to her.
"She's extremely, extremely coachable, so when we saw what her bat was giving us in the fall and we had Dalaney Anderson at second we decided we would try to convert her to an outfielder. She loves second base and if she had her way she'd be at second base, but she loves playing more, so she started working at the outfield.''
Holaday wasn't sure Brees would earn her way into a starting position for Washburn this early in her career, but the former T-Bird made it impossible to keep her out of the lineup according to the WU coach.
"We were thinking of her early in the fall more as maybe a reserve outfielder and she just kept accepting every challenge and putting in the extra work and her bat earned her way into the starting lineup and she hasn't looked back,'' Holaday said. "We started out putting her in the nine-hole trying to give her opportunities without a lot of pressure and then last weekend we moved her into the two-hole and she didn't blink.
"She was fantastic there and she's a very good situational hitter, but she's a really good clutch hitter. When there are runners on base she knows how to step up and come through and I think she has just air of confidence about her that's really healthy. She's not over-confident, but she is not overwhelmed, and it doesn't matter who's pitching or what the situation is.''
Brees is currently hitting .333 with 11 hits, including three doubles, with nine runs scored and seven runs batted it while helping Washburn winning 13 of its first 15 starts, including six straight wins, entering this weekend's Washburn Invitational at Gahnstrom Field.
"I would say she's one of the surprises for me in terms of how quickly she got ready,'' Holaday said. "I thought she would be good in our program -- I wouldn't have gone after her if I didn't -- but how quickly she's done that with all the transitions and changes is a credit to her. She's been amazing.''
