Laura “Boo” Gillette started playing softball when she was four years old. Sixteen years later, Gillette is still ripping extra base hits and throwing runners out on the base paths. Throughout the past 16 years, Gillette has been racking up more accolades and awards than she has room for on her trophy shelf.
Some of her high school honors included first-team all-state junior and senior year, four-time all-county honoree and player of the year in the state of Florida her senior season. UW head softball coach Karen Gallagher recruited Gillette two years ago.
“She was a very strong hitter and very solid as a catcher, and we felt that she would be a very good fit for UW and the type of softball we like to play here,” Gallagher said.
Gillette was a very highly touted recruit out of high school and was pursued by a large number of other big-time Division I colleges. In the end, it was at Wisconsin where Gillette felt the most comfortable.
“I visited South Carolina, Florida, Ohio State and Notre Dame, but in the end I just felt the most comfortable at Wisconsin,” Gillette said. “Girls sports here have great facilities and they get a lot more respect as far as people coming out to the games and wanting to see female athletes.”
The sensational sophomore from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., is making a name for herself on this campus as well as throughout the Big Ten. Gillette leads UW in batting average, on base percentage, hits, total bases, walks and stolen bases. She’s also in the top five on the team in almost every other statistical category.
Oh, and by the way, she’s a switch hitter. A luxury that is extremely important and useful in the game of softball.
“When I was eight years old, the pitchers would never give me anything to hit, so my pop taught me to hit lefty,” Gillette said.
Gillette is yet to utilize this aspect of her game so far in her collegiate career but sees a potential for switch-hitting in the near future.
“That’s such a bonus when you have a batter that can hit lefty; the other teams think that you’re just a slapper, so they are going to bring everyone in, but I have some power from the left side, so it can be used as an advantage,” Gillette added.
Although she is an offensive threat, it is her leadership and mental game that her coach is most impressed with.
“She’s very positive and she instills her optimistic attitude within the other players on the team, and that’s just an incredible quality to have,” Gallagher said.
Gillette herself says that the most improved part of her game throughout the past two years has been the mental aspect.
“When everyone comes in here they are the best players from their high school, so everyone is expected to be good,” Gillette said. “If you want to be successful at this level, your mental game has got to be just as strong or stronger than your physical game.”
Although Gillette has made very significant contributions to the team throughout the past two seasons, she feels like she can accomplish even more in her remaining two years of eligibility. With so many talented young players in the program, she and the team have set high goals for the future of UW softball.
“I want our team to win the Big Ten, go to regionals and ultimately earn a trip to the college world series,” Gillette said.
Gillette has also set very high goals for herself.
“Personally, I would like to be an academic and athletic All-American,” Gillette said.
After college, Gillette hopes to continue her involvement with the game of softball and become a graduate assistant somewhere. She hopes to someday become a Division I head coach. If coaching doesn’t pan out, Gillette has a backup plan.
“I want to get a masters degree in marine biology and hope to be a Division I coach someday,” Gillette said. “But if that doesn’t work out, my backup plan is to be a high school marine biology teacher.
But she is certainly not going to get ahead of herself. Wisconsin fans can be happy that Gillette still has two years of collegiate eligibility left. So look for Boo Gillette to be scaring Big Ten opponents for at least a few more seasons.
