Growing up as the youngest of four softball-playing sisters in the sport's Southern California cradle, Nicole Schroeder at times struggled to find her own voice.
But there are perks to being the youngest. For one thing, it means you get the last word.
It's a word that, at the moment, is followed by an exclamation point. Maybe several.
Now a fifth-year senior at the University of Arkansas and the only sister still playing college softball, Schroeder stands alone not just from her siblings, but from almost any other hitter in the country. Already off to the best start of her career before the most recent week even began, she made February look like nothing more than a warm-up lap as March arrived.
Consider that she raised her average more than 50 points in a week. And she was hitting .457 to begin with.
In six games this past week, Schroeder totaled 12 hits and four walks. Included in that were five home runs and three doubles. She drove in 16 runs, as many or more runs than Arizona, Kentucky or Minnesota scored for the week -- and none of those ranked teams lost a game.
The espnW national player of the week did her best work in the team's most significant games, hitting two home runs and driving in six runs in a 7-6 win over neighbor Oklahoma State and hitting a two-run home run in a 2-0 win over traditional regional power Nebraska.
A player who had more strikeouts than hits in her first three college seasons -- seasons spread over four years because of Tommy John surgery that forced her to miss the 2014 schedule -- Schroeder leads the nation in home runs. She ranks first in slugging percentage, fifth in on-base percentage and seventh in batting average among players with at least 40 at-bats.
"I just had to convince myself that I could hit," Schroeder said of offseason work with Arkansas coaches and her dad that focused on her mental approach. "I have a past of striking out a lot and stuff. And I just had to really convince myself and work on being OK with having bad days."
With the past week as evidence, a lot can happen when you let go of burdens, be they strikeouts or expectations.
The Schroeder name has currency in softball. Sisters Jen and Katie played at UCLA and are now half of a well-regarded quartet that conducts coaching clinics nationwide. Another sister, Michelle, also played in the Pac-12 at Stanford. The sport is literally a family business for the Schroeders, who own and operate a softball training facility in softball-mad Orange County.
"I went through a point where I wanted to change my last name; I wanted nothing to do with it." Nicole Schroeder
Nicole, barely in grade school when Jen, the oldest, left for UCLA, grew up amid that. It's part of why she left California for the SEC and Fayetteville, Arkansas.
"I went through a point where I wanted to change my last name; I wanted nothing to do with it," Schroeder said. "Because I just felt like everywhere I went, I wasn't Nicole. I was 'Little Schroeder,' Jen's sister or Katie's sister. I just wanted to be me. But now I've realized I wouldn't be here without them, so I'm really lucky to have them. I just had to realize that, and I wouldn't have realized that without going through the hard times."
The Schroeders will always be a collective entity. Each sister has her role in Nicole's routine these days. Katie is the logical one, the source of unvarnished advice. Jen, perhaps best known at UCLA as the catcher whose voice could be heard in every corner of any stadium, offers the unabashed positivity. Michelle, naturally for a Stanford grad, can always be leaned on for help with school.
But through five challenging years -- through injury, strikeouts, a coaching change and a lot of losing -- the youngest sister also had to find her own way without her love for the sport waning.
"Surprisingly, it never did -- because I haven't had a really good past," Schroeder said. "It almost made me want it more. It really taught me things, like how to be a better teammate and it's all about the team. The struggles made me grow closer with my teammates. I'm almost thankful for the hard times because I think it made me a better person."
That is a more important takeaway than becoming a better hitter.
But it also feels pretty darn good to see the ball the way she's seeing it these days.
Previous winners: Texas A&M's Samantha Show (March 1) | LSU's Bailey Landry (Feb. 22) | Washington's Taran Alvelo (Feb. 15)