Earlier this week, espnW named Michigan All-American Sierra Romero as it’s College Softball Player of the Year. The California native has Michigan poised as one of the favorites to make it to the Women’s College World Series as the Wolverines were seeded No. 3 going into this weekend’s play.

A member of the Women’s National Team as well, Sierra came into the NCAA Regionals batting .469 with 20 homes, 74 RBI and a .624 on-base percentage.

Here is an excerpt from Graham Hays’ article touching on why Sierra is one of the best softball players to come along in a long time…

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espnW Softball Player Of The Year: Michigan’s Sierra Romero

by Graham Hays

Note: the complete article originally ran May 12, 2015 on ESPNW.com and can be found by clicking here

Among the last things a pitcher wants to see when facing Sierra Romero is a smirk. The next thing they see may well be the softball receding into the night.

Go back for a moment to the fifth inning of this season’s Big Ten championship game between Michigan and Nebraska. In possession of a comfortable three-run lead, the Wolverines had an opportunity to break it open with runners on second and third and Romero in the batter’s box.

Instead of pitching around her with first base open, the Huskers elected to go after the All-American, who had atypically failed to reach base in either of her first two plate appearances. The first pitch from Kaylan Jablonski was away but flat and straight, an invitation for a hitter to extend her arms.

Romero swung and missed, the force lifting her off her feet. And then she smirked.

Sierra Romero’s on-base percentage ranks third overall and best among players from major conferences.

“I knew I had just missed that pitch,” Romero said. “My previous at-bats I had flown out, but I knew that I was on it. I knew that it was just a matter of time before I got a hold of one. That’s what the smirk was for: I knew I was on it.”

She nevertheless fouled off the next pitch to put herself in a 0-2 hole against Jablonski. Of all the remarkable numbers Romero has generated this season, few are more outlandish than just seven strikeouts in more than 200 plate appearances. There are a handful of full-time starters in major conferences with comparable totals, but they are mostly bat-control specialists. They are slappers and singles hitters, not sluggers.

The bigger the swing, the greater the potential reward and the risk of coming up empty. That is one of the bargains inherent in bat-and-ball sports. Romero never signed the contract. She doesn’t strike out. She is not Mighty Casey, merely mighty good.

The third pitch was a rise ball, the rocks upon which so many at-bats are shipwrecked. Romero held her swing for ball one.

“With two strikes on me, I was looking down,” Romero said. “I wasn’t going to swing at anything that brought my eyes up.”

The next pitch came in low and inside, a borderline strike but too close for even a good eye to let pass and entrust to the whim of the umpire. Romero’s back leg dipped toward the ground, the bat whipped through the zone like a golfer’s driver and the ball soared toward center field. The hop from the pitcher as she turned to track its flight was a giveaway that she knew the outcome. Romero knew, too, as she ran toward first and made the turn at a jog.

It’s not so much about getting Romero out as just getting her to stop at first base.

In a college softball season dominated by record run production, including the juggernaut lineup of which she is a part, Romero is one of the toughest outs in the country. Willing to wait for her pitch, she will take first base if it’s given. If not — if challenged to beat the odds that say a hitter should fail more times than she succeeds — she will win more often than not.

Often enough to be espnW’s national player of the year.

Read the rest of the article at ESPNW by clicking here

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Also, check out the video interview Full Count Softball did with Sierra in December when she was working out in Anaheim, Calif. right before Christmas: