In the brief history of the South Alabama softball program many players have left their mark during their time in Mobile. One player, though, who will be at the top of that list, along with many other career lists will be rising senior infielder Kaleigh Todd.
The Bessemer, Ala., native ranks among the program's top 10 in eight different statistical categories heading into 2018, and is within reach of becoming the all-time leader in at least three of those.
Todd currently ranks second at South Alabama in career batting average (.368), third in on-base percentage (.452) and stolen bases (57), tied for fifth in runs scored (113), fifth in multi-hit games (44), tied for seventh in triples (5), eighth in hits (162) and tied for ninth in walks (61).
Sports and the game of softball have been in Todd's blood nearly all her life as she began playing on the dirt infield at the age of three. Coming from a family largely involved with athletics, it came as no surprise that Todd found herself on a ball field at such a young age.
"My dad has always been a football and baseball coach and I've always loved sports; I also have an older cousin who got drafted in baseball, so we were always around the sport," Todd said. "When I was three, I was old enough to start playing and I just fell in love with softball; I've been in love with the sport ever since."
As she grew older, Todd immersed herself with her new love, playing year around.
"I always wanted to play," Todd said. "I played fall ball, park ball and then I went on to travel ball at age five."
As one of the fastest players on the Jaguar roster, speed has always been an asset to Todd.
"When I was eight years old playing on a travel team, my nickname was 'Herbie' because I could fly around the bases," Todd said.
Todd also played volleyball during her seventh- and eighth-grade years, but softball became her main focus entering her freshman year of high school.
During her early teen years, Todd made a significant change to her game as she not only switched which sides of the plate in which she batted from, but also the way that she hit.
"I became a slap hitter when I was 13 during my transition from eighth to ninth grade and my high school coach was not a fan of it at the time," Todd said. "She couldn't understand why I would change since I was such a good right-handed hitter. I knew in college though that if I was a slap hitter, I could use my speed to my advantage."
The transition to the new hitting style didn't come easy immediately for Todd.
"It was a process and there were times that I didn't know if I would stick with it just because it was a struggle. I basically had to teach myself how to hit completely all over again," Todd said. "It was rough, but in the end it paid off."
And pay off it did as Todd finished her high school career at McAdory High School as a three-time all-state selection by the Alabama Sports Writers Association, while also recording a .567 batting average, 49 doubles, 26 triples and only 31 strikeouts in 480 career at-bats.
She was also named to MaxPreps 2014 Medium Schools All-American Team and was selected as the Alabama High School Athletic Association Hitter of the Year as a senior after batting .620 to go along with a .648 on-base percentage. Todd also recorded 71 steals during her final prep season to run her career total to 209, which ranked as fourth-most in AHSAA history at the end of her Yellow Jacket career. Todd stole 68 straight bases to end the 2014 season, a year after she had 62 stolen bases without being caught.
The recruiting process was pretty simple for Todd.
"At the beginning of my sophomore year in high school, I knew that South was the place for me," Todd stated. "There was just a family atmosphere here. With Coach [Becky] Clark it's more about who we are as a person rather than the sport. They liked my athleticism and the way I played, but they also cared about who I was as a person and where I wanted to go in life. That's what I fell in love with; coaches care about us beyond the sport."
While Tennessee also entered into the recruiting picture, the Jaguars always remained at the top of Todd's list mainly due to one of the core foundations of the program.
"Work ethic is an important thing here at South Alabama and that to me was a big reason I chose to come here. I didn't just want to be another jersey number; I wanted to be someone with a name," Todd said.
Coming into the 2015 season, Todd was hoping to make a big impact in the Jaguar lineup as a freshman, but prior to the USA's first game, she had an obstacle confront her — one that she would have to battle all season long.
"Two weeks before our first game I broke my foot, so that was a huge setback, but I played the whole way through it," Todd said.
She broke a bone in her left foot sliding into third base when her spike stuck and flipped her over the bag while legging out a triple during a scrimmage at practice. Because of an extra bone in her foot, what normally would've been a sprained ankle for most turned into a more serious injury, which required surgery to repair the broken bone.
Battling through the pain, Todd was unable to play at the level that she was accustomed to limiting her production and causing the then-freshman to press.
"I also struggled as a freshman because I had done so well in high school and I wasn't able to play at that level," Todd said. "I wanted to get back to that point again and I started pressing."
During that first season in Mobile, Todd batted just .222 in her 90 at-bats recording just 20 hits. However, she did still manage to score 30 runs and go 16-for-16 in stolen base attempts, which led the team.
Despite her struggles, Todd showed flashes of what she was capable of as she had a 3-for-4 performance with two runs scored against Sun Belt foe Georgia State and scored three more runs in South's opening-round win over Chattanooga at the 2015 NCAA Auburn Regional.
"I finally figured out that I just had to play loose and free," Todd said. "My dad and Coach Clark played a big part in helping me get back. They just helped me remember the type of player I had been before I got to college. I remembered all of the hard work that I had put in to get to that point. I put in the work and just started having fun again out there."
Entering her sophomore season now knowing what to expect on the field and in the classroom, Todd made it a goal to not repeat the previous year and she didn't. That season, she raised her batting average nearly .200 points hitting .415, which ranked third in the conference, and earned her first-team all-SBC honors. She was also fourth in the SBC in on-base percentage (.495) and seventh in hits (68).
Along with Emily Messer, the duo was one of the top table-setters in the league. The 144 combined hits between the two were the most ever in program history, eclipsing the previous mark of 134 set by Tara Donaldson (71) and Evelyne Pare (63) during the inaugural season. Todd also led the team for the second-straight year in stolen bases with 22.
Prior to the start of the 2017 campaign, Todd was an honorable mention All-American selection by FastPitch News. She continued to establish herself as one of the top players in the Sun Belt as a junior as she led the club in batting average (.398), runs scored (41), hits (74), triples (4), total bases (88), stolen bases (19) and on-base percentage (.454).
Todd ranked among the Sun Belt leaders in batting average (second), triples (third), hits (third), stolen bases (third), runs scored (seventh) and on-base percentage (10th), and her 74 hits were 35th-most in the nation and second-highest in a single season at USA. Todd also paced the Jags with 25 multiple-hit outings, which set a new program best for a season. For her play, she earned first-team all-league honors for the second straight season and was named third-team all-region by the National FastPitch Coaches Association.
In early March, Todd became the first Jag to record two triples in a game as she accomplished the feat against Purdue. The second baseman also came up big in an extra-inning road win at Louisiana-Monroe as she recorded her first-ever home run — a inside the parker — to help South pick up a 2-1 win.
This past summer Todd was one of four Jaguars selected to compete on one of two collegiate softball stars teams on the Alabama Stars roster at the Tuscaloosa, Ala., site against the USA National Softball team during the summer. Against some of the nation's best, Todd had a hit, scored a run, stole a base and was hit by a pitch in game one of the doubleheader.
"It was the experience of a lifetime," Todd said. "My adrenaline as pumping from the very first pitch."
With that first pitch Todd was hit in the right arm and reached base to lead off the game.
Todd hopes to build off the experience against the top-level competition.
"Knowing that those are some of the best players in the country and the world, and I was able to do some things against them was really eye-opening to me and a neat experience," said Todd. "Knowing that I was able to play against the best definitely gives me a boost."
As she heads into her final collegiate season, Todd isn't focused on the career milestones within her reach. She is however wanting to return Jaguar softball to a perennial power on the national stage.
"These past two years have been a little bit rough," Todd said. "We've already had meetings [this fall] as a team and know that we don't want to go back to that. I think we are on the right path. We have a bunch of new players coming in that have shown a good work ethic and care for this program. Our senior group wants to get the program back to that prominence.
"I don't try to look at the numbers. Closing in on the career marks are nice and if they happen, they happen. It would be nice to close out my career like that, but again, those are just stats and I want to be a team player and not worry about stats."
In order to help South return to that standard, all Todd has to do is look back at the leadership she had as a freshman which was part of three Sun Belt tournament titles and four NCAA Regional appearances.
"The leaders that we had during my freshman year, [Kaitlyn] Griff[ith] and Farish [Beard] and the others gave us some big shoes to fill just because of the success they had during their four years here," Todd said. "I haven't mastered the leadership role, but I try to lead by example. I'm also trying to become more of a vocal leader out on the field this season."
When asked how she wants to be remembered once her Jaguar career is over, Todd came back to something that is at her core.
"I just want to be looked at as the type of player that always put in the work and was looked at as a leader by others," Todd said. "I just want to be an example of how to be for other players on our team."
If all goes as expected, Todd will leave her name ranked among the program leaders in several categories, and might even add her name to one other list as she is hoping to become just the fourth player from South Alabama to be drafted by the National Pro FastPitch League.
However, whether following a professional career or not, Todd plans to stay in the game that has been a part of her life for so long as she hopes to one day become a coach at the collegiate level.
Before all of that though, Todd and the rest of her Jaguar teammates have unfinished business and the first step in reaching those goals begins on Sept. 22 when South Alabama opens up its nine-game fall schedule against Coastal Alabama Community College at 6 p.m. at Jaguar Field.
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).
Join the Bullpen Club, the softball specific support club of the Jaguar Athletic Fund. Members have access to purchase parking passes and receive Jaguar Softball gear. All donations to the Bullpen Club go directly to support the South Alabama softball program. For more information on how you can join visit: jaguarathleticfund.com/bullpenclub.
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