During her career at the University of Wisconsin, senior outfielder Sam Polito has managed to compile some pretty gaudy statistics. But with accounting, finance, risk-management and insurance as majors, she might be even better at making sense out of them. Polito can smack a hanging breaking ball for a triple and do your taxes — that's something that can be said for only a handful of people in America.
Growing up in Stevens Point, Polito had always envisioned herself playing softball against the best competition, and her experience at Wisconsin has lived up to all her expectations.
"It's been amazing," Polito said. "Getting to know the girls, playing for the coaches and getting to play against elite teams has just been awesome. It's been a dream of mine since I was little, so it's awesome to finally get a chance to live it."
Although Polito was able to dominate high school pitching, being named to Wisconsin's All-State First Team three times, she says her skills at the plate were considerably less polished as a freshman.
"When I first came in, I didn't really have a lot of finesse," Polito said, "but the coaches really worked with me on that."
Polito has since developed into one of the better hitters in the Big Ten and stands just three runs away from UW's all-time record held by Kris Zacher.
"She's completely driven," head coach Chandelle Schulte said. "Her expectations of herself have risen a great deal, and I think now she realizes what she's capable of, so each and every day she strives for that."
Last year, Polito led the Badgers with a .324 average and 47 hits and was named Wisconsin's Co-Offensive Player of the Year along with Joey Daniels.
It seems as if she has picked up right where she left off this spring.
Polito is hitting .320, and her 16 hits trail only Katie Hnatyk on the team.
Polito's skills on the base path have also improved. Her eight steals led the team last year, and she has swiped three bags so far this season.
"I'm working a lot more with our weight trainer to get faster," Polito said. "Stolen bases aren't really my decision, otherwise I'd be going all the time, but Coach wants me to be able to get there more often this year."
Polito's defensive prowess was on full display during last year's errorless Big Ten campaign, and her 23 putouts this season are more than all other outfielders combined.
"Last year was her best offensive year," Schulte said. "Defensively, she didn't make an error in the Big Ten.
"She's the complete package."
UW wraps up tournament play
Wisconsin will compete in its last regular season tournament this weekend before opening up at home in two weeks. The Badgers (10-5) travel to Tampa, Fla., for the University of South Florida Speedline Invitational.
This is the fourth out-of-state tournament UW will compete in before getting into the meat of the home schedule, which begins against Loyola March 27.
While the cross-country trips may be enjoyable, the return to the day-to-day routine of indoor practice is starting to wear a little thin.
"It gets tiresome when you come back, and you're inside again," Schulte said. "It takes a couple more days to adjust, so in that sense [tournaments] are tiresome, but only because we miss playing. We'd rather just keep playing."
After a full week of rest, senior pitcher Eden Brock should be ready to continue her early-season dominance. After going 4-1 at the Georgia Tech Buzz Classic with an ERA of 1.38, Brock was named to the All-Tournament Team for her role in leading the Badgers to a third-place finish. She notched 14 strikeouts in the tournament opener against Morehead State and blew away 11 against Georgia State.
"She's been throwing fantastic," Schulte said, "but more than that, it's her attitude. I said earlier in the year that she had a choice to make about the type of pitcher she wanted to be and what her legacy was going to be, and she's really done fantastic. She has so much confidence, and now it's all coming together for her."
Brock ended up with 39 K's on the weekend through 25 1/3 innings. For her performance, Brock was named Big Ten Pitcher of the Week for the first time in her career.
At the plate, no bat has been hotter than that of Alexis Garcia. The junior first baseman went 8-for-15 (.667) in Georgia and is currently riding a six-game hitting streak. Garcia had two home runs, two doubles and six RBI during the tournament.
This weekend's Speedline Invite will consist of 16 teams separated into four pools of four. Wisconsin will open up play Friday at 2 p.m. against Ball State. Before matching up against South Florida at 4 p.m. Saturday, UW will face Dartmouth at 11:30 a.m. The top two teams from each pool will then square off in a double-elimination tournament, with a championship game to be played Sunday afternoon.
