Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
"She was born with that” — Mealer’s hot bat helps lead Blue Raider Softball to best start in program history
3/1/2023 4:51:00 PM | Softball
The sophomore is batting .524 through 14 games after batting 7-for-10 over the weekend
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — You can't knock the smile off of Laura Mealer's face when she's at Blue Raider softball practice. Not even when you pull her for a few minutes out of warmups to chat on camera for an interview.
It's not hard to guess why, given the way the MTSU shortstop has started her sophomore campaign on the diamond. Through 14 games, the Chapel Hill, Tenn. native is batting a scorching .524, getting on base 62.3 percent of her plate appearances, all while scoring 19 runs and driving in 16 of her teammates on the bases.
But it's not the personal success that has Mealer beaming on a late winter afternoon that felt far more like spring, and far more like the sunny locales MTSU softball has started their season away from the mid-state. It's the fact that her teammates are getting ready for the day of work behind her as she speaks.
"You come to practice, everybody is laughing and having a great time," Mealer said. "We enjoy being around each other."
The vibes around everyone in the Blue Raider softball program are soaring right now, with the program off to its best start through 14 games in its history, entering this weekend with an 11-3 record after taking all four games in Statesboro, Ga. over the weekend, including three wins called due to run-rule. MTSU outscored their opponents, NC A&T and Georgia Southern, 38-2 over the weekend, with eight of those runs scored by Mealer and eight of those runs driven in by Mealer.
That's not a surprise for those that watched Mealer's breakout freshman campaign a season ago, where the middle infielder led the team in batting average (.355), slugging percentage (.619), on-base percentage (.429), hits (55), runs (34), home runs (10), triples (2). The strong start earned her Second Team All-C-USA honors, as well as a spot on the C-USA All-Freshman Team.
It's probably not a surprise for those that saw Mealer play in Chapel Hill growing up, Head Coach Jeff Breeden said, given the skill the sophomore has always displayed on the diamond.
"People who follow softball or baseball will understand what I'm about to say: she's a bad pitch hitter," Breeden said. "The ball doesn't have to be a strike for her to get a good hit. She was born with that. She can hit whatever she wants to when it's thrown up there and she's hot right now."
Not just hot, scorching.
Among qualified hitters, Mealer's .524 average ranks 15th in the country as of Wednesday and is the best average in Conference USA through February 27. Her slugging percentage of .881 is in the top 50 of all hitters at the Division I level. Her eight stolen bases ranks in the Top 50 nationwide as well.
They're numbers Mealer is clearly proud of, but not in the front of her mind.
"I'm just never satisfied," Mealer said. "Whether it was batting 3-something last year or 5-something this year, I want to be better every single game and every single at-bat, I want to get better."
Helping her to get better has been her teammates, who are providing Mealer plenty of chances to both score when she gets on base and drive in runs when they're on base for her. Breeden pointed to the synergy the turn of his lineup, the 9-1-2-3 spots in the order, with Amaya Harris batting ninth, Shelby Echols batting leadoff, Mealer betting second and Savannah Behabetz batting third.
With Harris often getting on base in the nine-hole, and with Echols success early this year (.364 batting average) at lead off, Mealer and Behabetz have gotten a plethora of at-bats in high leverage situations, leading to more opportunities to score runs.
"When we're putting up 14, 11 or eight (runs in an inning), it's because those four people, starting at the bottom of the order, we're hooking up crazy all the way through," Breeden said.
The teammate support is evident in Mealer's stats. Through 14 games, Mealer already has scored over 50 percent of the runs (19) that she did a season ago (34). Same with RBIs (16 in 2023, 28 in 2022) and even more so on the basepaths, where her eight stolen bases are just one off her team-leading nine in 2022.
For Mealer, who's individual accolades a season ago rung hollow to her given MTSU's struggles a season ago, the success teamwide has allowed her to play more freely.
"It takes a lot of pressure off of me personally, because I don't feel like I have to come out and bat 1.000 and field 1.000 in order for us to be in the ball game," Mealer said. "I can come out and have an off day and I know that everybody in the lineup will pick it right back up."
The off days, at least in the batter's box, have been few and far between early in 2023. One expects that when she returns to the Blue Raider Softball Field for MTSU's home slate starting on March 9, that's likely to continue, thanks to the nearby support system of her family being able to come and watch.
For his part, her head coach certainly hopes her hot bat continues to power MTSU's lineup up top.
"I hope she stays hot all the way through the end of May."
Players Mentioned
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