Samantha Mracich, a freshman outfielder and pitcher for the Nicholls State University softball team, has the highest batting average on the team this season.

With a batting average of .435 after the first weekend of conference play, Mracich has recorded a high of four hits and a home run against Mississippi Valley State University, a double against Houston Baptist University and three runs scored against Jacksonville State University.

“There’s been a lot of older girls that have helped me along the way,” Mracich said. “They’re always giving me feedback.”

Angel Santiago, the team’s head coach, said that Mracich has always been a prepared player looking to learn something new.

“I just try to keep a positive attitude,” Mracich said on what she brought to the team off the field. “You’ll always have another opportunity.”

“She’s got a great personality,” Santiago said. “She smiles a lot and doesn’t let things get to her. I know I can be hard on her sometimes and she still smiles,” Santiago said.

Mracich attended high school at Archbishop Chapelle in Metairie, Louisiana, where she was a student council class officer. She was a four-time first-team all-district honoree while in high school for every year she was on the team.

“It’s a lot of work,” Mracich said on transitioning from playing softball in high school to college. “It’s bigger competition and it’s taught me to grow up a little bit.”

Mracich said the best part about playing at a college close to where she grew up was that her parents are able to come to most of her games, whether they are both home and away.

“They’ve always been very supportive and it’s always been nice seeing a friendly face in the crowd,” Mracich said.

She first began playing softball when she was around nine or ten years old. She admitted that she didn’t like the sport when she first started.

“It was the people around me who made it fun,” Mracich said. “They made me develop a love for the game that I never had before. I used to just think it was slow and boring.”

She said her teammates were essential in developing her interest in the sport as she continued to play.

Moving forward, Mracich said that her biggest personal goal was to keep improving individually.

“She’s still young and has many techniques to learn, and that’s what is crazy about how well she’s doing,” Santiago said.

“There’s always room for improvement,” Mracich said. “I want to get better and better each year.”