Softball: Playing with a Giant passion

The only catch: She isn’t talking about the Tigers.

“My team, the San Francisco Giants, just won the World Series,” she said, her eyes lighting up, “I have probably 12 Giants T-shirts, and I wore them every single day during the World Series.”

Of course, Pierce shares her passion for the Giants and Tim Lincecum — the two-time Cy Young Award winner she affectionately refers to as “Timmy” — with an abiding love for softball, a sport she began playing recreationally at age 10. She joined a competitive travel team at 12, pitching until she was 16, when she made a fateful choice.

“I decided I didn’t want to pitch anymore,” she said. “I wanted to be an outfielder, and I didn’t want to hit right-handed anymore; I wanted to hit left-handed.”

“If you’re left-handed, technically, you’re closer to first base,” she explained. “I started sports performance training going into sophomore year of high school, and I got a lot faster, so it made sense to switch sides because I’d be a step closer.”

Pierce’s vivacious attitude and 5-foot-5-inch frame belie her streak of steely determination, which allowed her to reverse her batting stance to gain a one-step advantage. This resolve, so integral to her play, was pushed to its limits in her final year of high school.

“My senior year, I broke my ankle in three places and dislocated it,” she said. “My shoes caught on the turf and I fell. Then I had two surgeries — a bunch of pins and plates were put in and then taken out in my second surgery.”

She missed her entire senior season and spent the year rehabilitating her ankle. The injury limited her to eight hits in 53 at-bats freshman year at Princeton, and she had to wear a brace and tape at all times, including during practices.

“Last year was a bust for me on an individual level,” she admitted. “It was really rough for me personally because I hadn’t played for a year and half, two years because of my injury, so it was like jumping into college softball with two years off.”

But that season is behind her, and she’s not dwelling on last year’s frustrations.

“This year I don’t wear any of it, and I’m good to go,” she said, “Without the brace and tape, mechanically, I can hit a lot better.”

The effects of her newly rediscovered freedom are readily apparent, as Pierce has already quadrupled her hit total from last season, leading the team with a .330 batting average in 100 at-bats.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Off the field, when she’s not watching as many Giants games as she can, Pierce is a history concentrator who loves to write. However, she describes her life in much simpler terms.

“We [softball players] work, play softball and sleep ... sometimes,” she said, laughing, adding that she averages five hours of sleep in-season, remarkably a couple hours more than she gets in the off-season.

Her zeal for writing is undeniable, however. She credits it for her choice to concentrate in history, an interest she hopes to meld with her enthusiasm for baseball.

She said that she is particularly interested in the integration of MLB, which began when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947. “I really like the Civil Rights Movement, and it would be amazing if I could incorporate both of those in my thesis.”

This year, her love for writing has channeled itself into a new medium: sports journalism.

“I had never done journalism before last semester,” she said, speaking about JRN 444: Sportswriting as Cultural Commentary, a class she took in the fall taught by Sports Illustrated senior writer Jon Wertheim. “I’d always loved writing, but I’d never done journalism because I never had time because of softball. But I saw it on the registrar’s website and was like, ‘I have to take this class.’ ”

So far, she has had remarkable success with her new pursuit. Her emotional tribute to late teammate Khristin Kyllo was published on Sports Illustrated’s website, and she’ll be interning with the magazine this summer in New York City.

“I’m an editorial intern, but you say ‘Sports Illustrated’ and I’m there,” Pierce said, “If that means making copy for people, I’m making copy for people.”

“I’ve never had a job outside of softball, like I worked camps and I’ve taught, but this is my first real job,” she said. She joked that she feels old, having just turned 20. “I’m out of my teens, I declared [a concentration] and I got a job.”

As her team gears up to close out its season and with her internship just a few weeks away, what’s next for Pierce is anyone’s guess. She has an idea of who she’d like to end up with, however.

“Timmy,” she said emphatically. “I mean, we’re pretty much secret lovers.”