ROSEMONT, Ill. -- Here’s the opportunity Bri Ellis deserves. A chance, via her team the Talons in the MLB-backed Athletes Unlimited Softball League, to roll directly from a historic college season into a high-profile professional career.
And maybe even a chance to get some pitches to hit.
Ellis, a first baseman, has often been referred to as the “Barry Bonds of softball.” In her just-completed senior year at Arkansas, she managed to tie the SEC single-season home run record (26) despite getting walked once every 3.17 plate appearances. To do as much damage as she did (.440 average, 1.090 slugging percentage) with so few pitches over the plate was a testament to her mental toughness, and it earned her recognition as the D1 Softball National Player of the Year.
“In the Georgia game, I was walked three or four times, and then, the bases were loaded, and I hit a walk-off grand slam off the first strike I saw,” Ellis said at AUSL Media Day. “After that, I don't think I was pitched to for about a month. I'm not kidding. Like, it started to mess with me. I had to go early to practice and have our [graduate assistants] throw to me, because, like, I needed to see what a strike looked like.”
ATHLETES UNLIMITED SOFTBALL LEAGUE
Now, the 22-year-old Houston native is a rookie with the Talons in the fledgling AUSL, which has a healthy mix of freshly graduated softball stars such as herself and wily veterans with experience in high-level international competition and previous professional forays.
All of which is to say, Ellis might not get as many automatic trips to first base.
“I don't think that anyone would be afraid to throw to me,” she said. “I mean, the pitchers, I faced some of them in college. They're insane. They're absolutely insane. For the first time in a long time, I feel, like, nervous to go against a pitcher.”
Ellis does not give off the impression that any nerves will impact her. She’s a hyper-competitive straight shooter. She said the reason she transferred from Auburn to Arkansas after her sophomore year was to play for a coach in Courtney Deifel who was more receptive to her fiery nature.
“I’m not really scared to say what’s on my mind,” Ellis said. “Now, I do have a filter, and I’m not, like, a mean person. I don’t want people to think I’m just telling people things they don’t want to hear. But I talk about a lot of unconventional things, and I like to bring personality and put personality into my game. Some coaches don’t like that.”
There’s plenty to like about Ellis’ game. Not just the 1.729 OPS that was the third-highest single-season mark nationally since the NCAA began tracking the mark in 2016, but also her agility at first base, which earned her SEC All-Defensive Team honors.
Ellis’ Talons teammate, pitcher Mariah Lopez, had a front-row seat to that stellar season as a graduate assistant at Arkansas.
“It was mind-blowing,” Lopez said. “She’s amazing.”
But maybe the best thing about Ellis’ game is that it continues here in the AUSL, without pause or perplexity. There have been other women’s professional softball leagues, but none with the financial and marketing backing of MLB or the pedigree of a Commissioner like former MLB executive Kim Ng.
Previously, a stellar senior season like the one Ellis just had with the Razorbacks would have given way to a summer of uncertainty.
Instead, she was able to accept the sting of a too-quick exit from the NCAA Super Regional with the knowledge that a high-level opportunity awaited.
“It feels like people actually care about us and what we do, and that is just amazing, because it has not always been that way,” Ellis said. “And the support that I've gotten, going from college to now professional, I mean, the people love it. They're stoked, and they're so happy. If you think I'm happy that I get to continue my career, the fans are just beyond themselves because they still get to watch me play. It's the nicest thing.”
As for the Barry Bonds comparisons, well, Ellis knows she has to earn them all over again in a new league.
“I could be at my lowest point in college this past year, but I could go up to the plate knowing, ‘They know I'm Bri Ellis, they know any pitch they throw can leave the park,’” she said. “But now, I'm going against three- or four-time All-Americans, Olympians, you know, people who are 12 years older than me that know so much more than me, and they're not afraid to do anything. So it's going to be interesting to see how I figure that out. But I'm excited. It's a new challenge.”
And a deserved opportunity.