Senior Brooke Hartman is all about showing her University of South Florida teammates how to get the job done while out on the field.
The third baseman, who is currently playing her fifth and final softball season with the Bulls, wants to ensure that the lessons she learned through her years of playing the game are not wasted.
“I feel like I’m more of a leader that leads by example,” said Hartman, on a Zoom call from Tampa “I don’t exactly have the vocalization that most leaders do, but I feel like I am someone to look at on the field and outside of the field as well.”
The numbers certainly back up her claims.
So far this season Hartman has a batting average of .316, an on base percentage of .341, and has already hit two home runs in 19 at bats. This is the highest average of her career at USF, and if you project her home runs onto the length of a full season she’d break her previous record of 10 by a decent margin.
None of it has gone unnoticed.
“She’s there, she’s a joy to coach and she’s a fighter,” said assistant coach Tommy Santiago, by Zoom. “If you had to go to war with somebody, I’d go to war with [Brooke] any day of the week.”
Hartman’s wisdom will be especially important when USF takes on Team USA in a three-game series later this week on March 12, 13 and 14. The Port Orange, Fla., native was part of the Bulls team that faced the U.S. women’s national team in February of 2020, and also faced Team Japan in 2019.
She believes the world’s best softball team is “just somebody else in a different uniform.”
“They have to hit the ball. They have to catch the ball. They have to throw strikes. They have to get outs as well, so just be you, I guess. It’s just a game.”