Answering the Call – Copeland Hits, Pitches to Success
By Pete DiPrimio | IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The call to pitch came and Brianna Copeland was ready.
Are you surprised?
Must-win pressure soared against Michigan State last Saturday, and Indiana coach Shonda Stanton didn’t hesitate. Copeland switched from third base to the mound, and the near-sold-out Andy Mohr Field crowd buzzed.
Would you expect anything less?
When the heat is on, you go with your best. With NCAA softball tourney hopes at stake and a three-run lead gone against the struggling Spartans, a loss was the last thing the surging Hoosiers needed.
Enter Copeland.
The sophomore dominates by pitch and by hit. She’s helped lift IU to record-setting achievements that could lead to a Big Ten tourney title, and perhaps more.
On Friday night, that meant two hits, including her 11th home run, and two runs batted in, plus five pitched innings without allowing an earned run in a 9-1 victory.
On Saturday, that meant five more innings pitched, again without allowing an earned run, plus smacking a run-scoring single, in a 9-5 win.
On Sunday, it meant 1.1 hitless, scoreless innings to close out a 3-1 victory.
The best players rise to the challenge.
Copeland is 20-2 with a 2.83 earned run average. She’s hitting .327 with 11 home runs, 44 runs batted in and a team-leading 15 doubles. She’s stolen 13 bases in 16 attempts, and if in her heart she knows it should be 14 of 16, well, a fierce competitor concedes nothing.
Oh, she also plays a mean third base.
“What you’re seeing is total power and athleticism,” coach Shonda Stanton says. “She’s a power pitcher. She can drop bombs. She can steal bases. She’s a special athlete and talent, and she only continue to get better.”
This is a big jump from last year’s freshman numbers of a 6-4 pitching record while hitting .278 with eight home runs and 27 runs batted in.
“She’s one of the better two-way players in the country,” Stanton says.
The two-way approach came from youthful impatience and her first love of hitting. As a young player, she was on a team with a pitcher who had control problems. More walks meant more time between at bats. Copeland figured the best way to speed up the process was for her to pitch.
“I wanted to get out of the inning so I could hit. That started it. I pitch to get outs.”
Mission accomplished.
Copeland’s pitching starts with a nasty arsenal of fastball (“I love blowing it past people”), changeup, screwball, drop ball, curveball and rise ball, and it if seems unfair, well, if you’re hitting against her, it usually is.
She ratchets up the pressure by pitching to the count. If batters are in 0-2 or 1-2 ball-strike holes, expect anything.
“Some batters take the first pitch a lot,” she says. “That’s when I try to get ahead. Once I get ahead, I try to move the ball around, and not give them a chance to hit it.”
Copeland’s hitting approach is deceptively simple.
“I swing to hit the ball,” she says. “I don’t swing for average or power. The power comes naturally. I swing to get on base, mostly.”
Copeland was once an Alabama high school standout who posted cartoonish statistics that included six state records for career strikeouts (531), career home runs (28), career batting average (.413), single-season batting average (.563), single-season home runs (15) and most runs batted in during a game (eight).
How did she end up a Hoosier? Start with Stanton and her staff’s family approach.
“It was the family feel and how personable the coaches were,” Copeland says. “Everyone was like sisters.”
IU coaches first saw Copeland during a tournament and invited her to the Hoosiers’ summer camp. During a base-running agility drill, Copeland broke into a barrage of pushups.
“I thought, I’ve got to get this kid,” Stanton says. “I’ve never seen an athlete put together so well.”
Don’t overlook the NIL opportunities IU facilitates. Copeland has a deal with Adidas that allowed her to meet pro basketball superstar Candace Parker and tennis legend Billie Jean King during last summer trips to New York City and California.
IU is on the forefront in helping its student athletes make the most of their NIL opportunities. It’s among the reasons why IU is building a softball power, as Stanton takes full recruiting advantage.
“When you come to IU and the Big Ten,” she says, “if you perform at a high level, you’re going to be recognized and doors will be opened.”
Ask Copeland to name her most memorable Indiana softball moments and she mentions last year’s walk-off, three-run homer against Kent State (it was her third homer of the game), and this season’s team success. The Hoosiers finished the regular season as Big Ten runner-ups with an 18-5 conference record, 40-15 overall. That includes a school-record 23-game winning streak.
They will enter this week’s Big Ten tourney at Illinois with a nine-game winning streak, and hopes of making the NCAA tourney for the first time since 2011, and the eighth time overall.
“I feel like I’m on the best team ever,” Copeland says. “There’s a joy in having this much success.”
There’s also a joy, Stanton adds, in having a player such as Copeland.
“For Bri, the future is incredibly bright.”
