While this season has not proved as triumphant as last year for the Wisconsin softball team, the Badgers have many reasons to be optimistic about their future.

The biggest reason, however, is freshman Kelsey Jenkins.

After losing four key seniors from last year’s team that recorded the second-most wins in school history, the 2015 Badgers have had to rely on multiple freshman to take on big roles — with Jenkins carrying possibly the heaviest load of them all.

The freshman third baseman has emerged as one of the team’s most dangerous hitters and has had a stellar first season at the plate thus far, hitting for a .322 batting average and leading the team in home runs with two.

As good as she has been all season, she has been even better as of late. Jenkins was red hot last week against Green Bay and Illinois, hitting .500 with two home runs and nine RBIs over five games.

Following her hot hitting, Jenkins moved from second to cleanup in the batting order. Jenkins said that the move was a big confidence booster, but felt weird at first because she was never a power hitter in high school.

“I’ve never really hit fourth batter before,” Jenkins said. “It’s kind of like a confidence booster to stick a little five-five freshman in the four-hole and think that she’s going to do something. It’s been fun transforming into a power hitter.”

Wisconsin head coach Yvette Healy spoke earlier this week of how impressed she’s been by Jenkins and how much potential for greatness the Tucson, Arizona native has.

“She is really coming along,” Healy said. “This weekend at Illinois she had a couple of home runs and she has really been on a tear the month of April — knock on wood — but it has been fun to see her come along and come into her own, and I think she is going to break a lot of offensive records.”

Healy also noted that when she recruited Jenkins out of Arizona, she was drawn to her eye at the plate in addition to her slugging ability.

Jenkins leads the team with 36 walks this season, 11 more than Chloe Miller, who is second on the team with 25 walks.

“She just looked like a freshman that knew how to take a lot of walks early in the season,” Healy said of Jenkins. “She has got a great eye.”

Jenkins said Healy and assistant coach Randy Schneider’s positive coaching style played a big role in her decision to go across the country to come play softball at Wisconsin.

“Coach Healy and Coach Schneider are so positive and fun, and it’s great to play under coaches who always believe that you’re the best player,” Jenkins said. “They’re always chanting like, ‘Come on! You’re the best! You’re the best!’ and it’s very positive hearing that when you step in the batter’s box.”

Jenkins is also fortunate to have senior star outfielder Marissa Mersch as a teammate who she can learn from. Mersch, who is second on the team this year in RBIs and batting average, was a large contributor as a freshman as well.

Back in 2012, Mersch started 32 games for the Badgers, stealing seven bases and tying for first in triples in Big Ten single-season play.

According to Mersch, the biggest difference she noticed between high school and college games was how much work was needed in order to be successful.

“Coming in freshman year is a lot different than high school ball and travel ball,” Mersch said. “You have to put a lot more work into it, doing film, meeting with coaches, doing all those extra things.”

However, if anyone can handle that transition, Mersch believes it’s Jenkins. Mersch agrees with her coach, saying that Jenkins has what it takes to be special.

“Kelsey is swinging a really hot bat and I’m really proud of her,” Mersch said. “Everything is mental and she has so much potential, and I know she’s going to do great things at Wisconsin.”

As Jenkins continues to draw high expectations, the grounded freshman is still concerned about improving at “the little things,” which would explain why one of her goals this season is to bunt for a hit at least once.

While she’s is still aiming to master a bunt, it’s safe to say that she has certainly gotten the whole college softball thing down pretty quickly.