Counting K’s: Softball’s Johnson mowing down opponents
Ace. Workhorse. Stellar. Those are just some of the words used to describe Utah State softball pitcher Noelle Johnson this season.
Although she is just a sophomore, the Aggie softball team has leaned on her like a seasoned veteran throughout the year. Johnson has answered the call with an impressive 2.57 ERA, 124 strikeouts in just 103 innings, nine complete games, has nine of the team’s ten wins and earned the save in the other team’s win.
Johnson, a San Diego native, committed to USU despite receiving offers from prominent schools such as Oregon State, Texas Tech and hometown colleges like San Diego State.
“When I was looking at colleges I knew I wanted to go away from home and growing up in San Diego in the big city, I knew I wanted to go to a small town, something different,” Johnson said as to why USU appealed to her the most.
She made her first visit to USU in December and witnessed snow for just the third time. Despite the cold, it was the small-town atmosphere and support that drew her to USU.
“I came up with my dad and it was really cool to me, I loved the small town,” Johnson said. “We went to Angie’s for breakfast, and everything was Utah State. I thought it was so cool that the town completely revolved around the college.”
That kind of support was something she didn’t see in San Diego with the colleges there.
Once at USU, Johnson learned making the transition from high school to college athletics is not easy. She had an up-and-down freshman season last year where she split innings with another Aggie starter. She started 21 games and posted a 4.94 ERA but led the team in strikeouts with 127. The team as a whole struggled mightily, winning only 11 of their 54 games.
Fast forward to this season and thanks to new coaches, new players and a new attitude, both the team and Johnson have made huge strides. The Aggies won four of six games at the first tournament of the season and Johnson ended the last game against Nebraska-Omaha with a gem. She tossed two-hit shutout and struck out a USU record-breaking 16 batters.
“Our mentality, our coaches have a lot do with it,” Johnson said about the team’s sudden change. “Our coaches this year work a lot better with us than the coaches last year. We’re working better as a team. Last year we played individually; this year we play as one unit.”
During the game against Nebraska-Omaha, Johnson tried to focus on the game, not the strikeouts.
“After the first two innings, I knew I had six strikeouts but I tried not to think about it after that,” she said. “I didn’t keep count.”
Once she finished pitching, however, it was a different story.
“After the game I was like, ‘OK, how many did I have?'” she said.
Pitching coach Sarah Sigrest credits Johnson’s success because of her three “Cs”: command, coachability and a changeup.
“Noelle is a good pitcher because she is extremely coachable,” Sigrest said. “Her changeup is absolutely filthy, one of the best changeups I’ve ever seen. She has a great changeup because she has really good command of it.”
Johnson has brought her lunch pail to work all season, pitching in all but two of the 23 games so far.
“She’s stellar on the mound, and you can’t help but want to give her the ball in every opportunity that you can,” Sigrest said.
Just like every true ace, Johnson relishes the moment and wants the ball in her hands every chance she can get.
“I love it,” she said. “If it was possible for me to pitch every game, I would do it in a heartbeat.”
The Aggies as a team have clearly benefited from Johnson’s outstanding play this season. With 10 wins in the books already in about the same amount of games it took them to win a single game last season, the USU softball team looks to be relevant as they enter conference play in the Mountain West for the first time this weekend.
— cmakelky@gmail.com
Twitter: @makelky