When middle school students begin playing a school sport they traditionally start at the modified level. Once they reach high school they may spend a couple of years playing JV, depending on the sport, and then reach varsity before they graduate. Some, like Brittany Malloy, excel at the sport they play and are streamlined straight to the varsity level. Malloy started her first varsity softball game as an eighth grader and five years later is still with the team.
At the age of six, Malloy began playing softball when her neighbor’s sister introduced her to the game and started taking her to pitching clinics. She played Little League until seventh grade when she made the modified team. She started eighth grade on the same team, but mid-way through the season she was called up to varsity.
“I was so intimidated,” Malloy said, “but my neighbor’s sister was on the team, so I felt more comfortable. I felt uncomfortable, but at the same time they didn’t treat me any differently which I liked.”
Malloy only pitched one game that season and it was a victory against Chapel Hill. When she took the mound, a lot was going through her mind.
“I was so nervous. Megan Staudle was the catcher and she would try to calm me down. I felt weird as an eighth grader pitching. There was a lot of pressure. If I did good I thought the girls would like me more, but if I did bad they would say we lost the game because of you.”
The rest of the season Malloy was a fixture on the varsity bench, but that was expected. She bonded with the other substitute players, who all wrote BW on their hands for bench warmer. She wasn’t playing in any games, but Malloy saw the silver lining – she was getting more out of the practices working out with the higher level of competition. She felt the coaches pushed her harder than at the modified level.
A year earlier Malloy began playing travel ball with Ramapo Rage. Seeking a higher level of competition, she joined Dutchess Divas and played with them each summer until last year.
Much of Malloy’s career has been spent on the pitcher’s mound, however she did experiment at other positions while in Little League.
“You just tell the coach where you want to play and they put you there the next inning. They give anyone a chance, but mostly I pitched.”
Her freshman year, Malloy was moved back from the mound and placed in the shortstop position.
“When he first put me there I was shocked because I had never played shortstop before that. I had always been a third baseman. He put me there and I didn’t do that bad. At first I thought, ‘I’m not going to like this.’ It was nerve-wracking. I feel like that’s one of the biggest positions on the field. You have a lot of coverage. You have a lot of responsibilities. I thought if I messed up once it would cost us the game.”
It was an easy position for Malloy to pick up because of her experience playing third. Although the range of field coverage increased, the position allowed her more time to react to the ball.
Malloy was a fixture at shortstop for most of the last three years. She did pitch in one game last year, against Red Hook, when the regular starter was ill. Malloy knew a day in advance she’d be getting the ball and she was excited but nervous at the same time.
As a senior, Malloy will have the opportunity to be the team’s regular pitcher. Having pitched during travel ball, the hurler believes she’ll be able to settle right in on the mound.
Malloy was part of the softball team which made it to the state tournament two years ago, but her goal this year is to win the title.
“It was so upsetting because we were better than that team we lost to and they ended up winning the whole thing. We just made error after error. It’s different if you lose to a team you know that’s better than you, but since we were better, it made it harder.”
Malloy believes the team has a good shot as most of last year’s players are returning this year.
Malloy may be graduating at the end of the year, but her softball career isn’t over yet. She’s already been accepted to St. Thomas Aquinas College and plans on playing softball for the Division II school.
“At first I didn’t know if I wanted to do it. You have to be committed. You have to juggle school and softball at the same time. But then I realized I would miss it, so I decided to play.”
As a Woodbury Commons employee, Malloy is good at talking with people. She plans to put those skills to use as a sales or marketing major.
