'That's just the player she is': Brooks' hot hitting helps East get off to fast start

“The umpire called a really high strike during my first at-bat, and that made me really angry, to be honest,” the 5-foot-10 junior said with a laugh. “I knew the next pitch, I was like, ‘All right, I’m putting this one out.’”

Brooks did just that — and more. She blasted two home runs in her first three plate appearances, finishing the day 5-for-5 with seven RBI to help East pick up a dominant 17-8 win over the reigning state champions.

The game served as a microcosm to the blazing start Brooks has had to the start of the softball season.

In East’s first seven games, the junior has 12 hits in her first 17 at-bats. She sits with a .706 batting average and an on-base percentage of .773. She also has 10 RBI and a team-best four home runs.

Her efforts have helped East get off to a 6-1 start, which includes two conference wins over the No. 1 and No. 2-ranked teams in the state. In both matchups against the top-ranked teams, she was perfect from the plate.

It also helped Brooks take home Prep Athlete of the Week honors from the WyoSports’ Cheyenne staff.

“I just wanted to come out strong,” Brooks said. “I know that I’ve been training really hard this offseason, and I wanted to come out with a stronger start than last year.”

Brooks came into her sophomore season fresh off hip surgery to repair a torn labrum in her right hip. After batting .562 as a freshman, she ran into some early struggles while trying to return to form last spring.

She still went an impressive 9-for-16 to start East’s season last year. While those numbers would be great for just about anyone else, they were far off what the Louisiana Tech commit had in mind. That sentiment has drastically changed after the start to her 2024 season.

“This offseason, I’ve put so much time and effort into my swing,” she said. “In my opinion, this is how I should be starting, based off how much I have been doing.”

That work started as soon as the T-Birds season came to an end in the state championship game last May. For at least three days each week, Brooks spent countless hours at The Factory indoor hitting facility fine-tuning every aspect of her swing.

“I was focusing on basic mechanics and doing my general warmups every day,” Brooks said. “Even if I didn’t feel like going in, I just kept getting those reps in.

“(I was also) getting in the weight room. That not only plays a role in getting those home runs, but also getting my bat on the ball. If I’m stronger, I’ll obviously be able to hit with less effort.”

While Brooks finished the weekend on fire, the start to her season got off a little slow. Worland and Laramie — East’s first two opponents — were pitching her different than they had in the past, causing her to record just one hit and a walk in her first five plate appearances.

But after some conversations with head coach Adam Galicia and the T-Birds coaching staff, Brooks found her stride. She recorded five hits in back-to-back games against Rock Springs and Campbell County, and was perfect from the plate.

“We talked to her, and we told her if we were coaching against her, where we would pitch her,” Galicia said. “I say struggle, and that’s a relative term for her. She made some adjustments with her stance, and she was a little more patient.

“She’s that kind of batter where, if you make one mistake, she’s most likely going to be pretty successful.”

The adjustments she made were a testament to Brooks’ adaptability, Galicia said.

“That’s a credit to her, and a sense of her knowledge of the game,” the coach said. “This is her game. She’s going to college to play softball. She is constantly learning and bettering herself. I would expect nothing less of her to be able to make those kinds of adjustments during the game and to be confident in herself.”

The game against Thunder Basin was particularly important, not just in terms of helping East win, but also in building confidence against the Bolts.

Last season, Brooks struggled against Thunder Basin’s pitching, going just 6-for-16 in East’s five games against the Bolts. While it isn’t the same team from a year ago, seeing the ball fly off the bat the way it did was something Brooks said she needed to see.

It also came as a surprise that Thunder Basin’s pitchers continued to pitch to her the way they did.

“I think the pitchers just kept missing their spots, because their coaches kept yelling at them to stop pitching inside,” Brooks said. “I took advantage of it, so it worked in my favor.”

The start to Brooks’ 2024 campaign has been nothing short of spectacular. But one major aspect Galicia has been most impressed with is Brooks’ ability to step up as a leader. After East lost two of its biggest leaders from a season ago to graduation, Brooks has become one of the biggest leaders on the team.

Galicia credits Brooks’ maturity for helping her transition into the new role.

“She’s one of our top two leaders on the team,” Galicia said. “When we talk after every single game, (she) is able to let both our younger players and our experienced players know that, ‘Hey, mistakes are going to happen and things are going to happen where they don’t go your way.’ It’s something we try to preach to the girls ... and that’s her.”

The blistering hot start to the season is what Brooks expects out of herself. But she also knows it will mean nothing if she is unable to maintain the high level of play through the course of the season.

With teams continuing to find different ways to get around her hitting ability, Brooks knows that she will have to continue making adjustments to stay ahead of the competition.

“I just need to stay patient and stay within myself,” she said. “I just have to wait for my pitch, and if I don’t get it, I’m not swinging at it.”

Others recognized for their efforts:

n Gracie Oswald and Rylee Stephenson, softball, Cheyenne East: Oswald, a senior, recorded a .550 batting average through seven games and hit three home runs. She also had a walk-off, inside-the-park home run against Campbell County on Friday night to cap off an improbable comeback.

Stephenson, a junior, batted .474 in the same stretch. She also pitched a team-high 17 innings, going 3-1 with 21 strikeouts.

n Trey Downham, boys track and field, Cheyenne South: The junior won the 300-meter hurdles in 41.89 seconds and high jump with a mark of 6 feet at the rescheduled Golden Eagle Invitational on Tuesday in Frederick, Colorado. He also played third in the 200-meter dash.

His hurdles time set a new South school record.

n Maggie Madsen and Clara Kershner, girls track and field, East: Madsen, a freshman, won the girls 3,200-meter run at the Runners Roost of Fort Collins invitational on Friday with a time of 11 minutes, 19.26 seconds.

Kershner, a senior, won the girls shot put with a mark of 34 feet, 2 inches.