Talk to anyone who’s ever played with Kealy McMullen. They’ll tell you not to be blinded by her shy and unassuming West Coast demeanor. Talk to anyone who’s ever coached McMullen. They’ll tell you her relentless curiosity opens up learning doors that place the freshman outfielder on the fast track to success.

‘The main thing with Kealy is she never wants to make the same mistake twice,’ said Wayne Miller, McMullen’s former travel coach with the Washington LadyHawks. ‘So she definitely asks a lot of questions, and she’ll ask anyone. Whether it be the other outfielders, the coaching staff or anyone she deems necessary to give a good answer.’

As a freshman on an SU softball team that returned all of its starters from last season’s Big East championship, McMullen understands she will have to be a role player for the first time in her career. Through the first 14 games of the 2011 season, McMullen has started once and logged only 10 at-bats. Many amateur superstars struggle with the immediate transition to college role player. But McMullen says she understands it’s all part of a bigger picture.

It’s a bigger picture that begins where she expected it to begin when she trekked nearly 3,000 miles across the country to play for Syracuse: at the bottom of the figurative totem pole. She’s also relishing the opportunity to work her way up to leading status in one of the nation’s fastest rising softball programs.

That program will head to Gainesville, Fla., this weekend to participate in the University of Florida Lipton Invitational. Spanning Friday to Sunday, SU will take on Florida, Pacific, Gardner-Webb, North Dakota State and Valparaiso. McMullen will get her next opportunity to keep climbing the totem pole there.

‘My whole life I’ve been the star,’ said McMullen. ‘So right now I’m just enjoying being on that bottom level and working my way up. I’m just trying to learn from the girls ahead of me and make the most of every opportunity.’

She’s already off to a fast start. In the Cathedral City Classic last Friday against Utah, Syracuse was locked in a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the eighth inning. McMullen roped a pinch-hit walk-off RBI single.

The winning hit kicked off a perfect 5-0 weekend for the Orange. At 12-2, SU is off to its best start in program history heading into this weekend. The start has been propelled by contributions from a wide variety of players. And SU head coach Leigh Ross surprised a lot of people when she chose the green freshman McMullen to hit in such a clutch situation.

But based on McMullen’s relentless desire to learn, no one was surprised by the end result.

‘Coach King tells me he has to cut their hitting sessions short because Kealy is constantly grilling him on how to get better,’ Ross said of SU hitting coach Wally King. ‘He’s the one who suggested I send her up there in that spot because of how much she’s improved since she got here and how hard she’s been hitting the ball lately.’

A classic contact ‘slap’ hitter, McMullen has always been the type of player who gets on base with alarming frequency and wreaks havoc once she gets there. A three-time all-county selection at Lake Washington High School, McMullen’s senior-season batting average and on-base percentage both topped the .500 mark. As a member of the Washington LadyHawks travel team during her junior season, she totaled more than 50 steals.

‘Facing a home-run hitter is a headache. But once he or she hits a home run, it’s done and over with,’ Miller said. ‘But with a player like Kealy, the headache is slow and painful because it’s only getting started with the conclusion of the at-bat.’

McMullen’s scrappy playing style is the on-field extension of the quiet confidence she exudes with every new challenge. In some cases, the challenge can be as simple as changing time zones.

‘I came to Syracuse because I wanted to go as far away for college as I possibly could,’ McMullen said. ‘But I definitely wasn’t ready for the up-front personalities of East Coast people.’

But if she keeps pounding out big hits, those East Coast people will have no trouble adapting to her.

‘We love Kealy,’ said SU outfielder and fellow ‘slap’ hitter Rachel Helman. ‘She really lets all her hard work speak for itself — unless, of course, she’s asking a question.’

jdsaffre@syr.edu

 

Published on March 3, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Jarrad: jdsaffre@syr.edu