When Kailee Cuico steps onto the softball field, her presence can always be felt.
It’s the reason she started receiving letters of interest from Pac-12 schools as a 14-year-old high school freshman, and it’s what’s made her one of the most consistent players on the 12th-ranked Oregon softball team in 2012.
The sophomore first baseman has already started 91 games in less than two full seasons in Eugene — including all 51 this spring — with the physical and mental attributes that figure to etch her name deep into the Oregon record books over the next two years. @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=4375&SPID=245&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=204964495&Q_SEASON=2011@@ @@http://www.pac-12.org/SPORTS/Softball/Standings.aspx@@
Considering Cuico has little to no interest in her own offensive numbers, her sophomore campaign has been all the more impressive given the recent trend in college softball.
They call it the “sophomore slump,” for a reason. Second-year players face an uphill battle of constant adjustments at the plate, and the mental aspect of hitting has generally never been more difficult in most young players’ lives.
Yet, Cuico seemed to meet that challenge a year earlier than most, garnering All-Pac-10 Freshman Team honorable mention recognition for her efforts.
“For her to have that adjustment period, it was difficult,” third-year head coach Mike White said. “But this year, she’s been a little more understanding, understanding it’s a tougher game and being patient with herself.” @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=4373&SPID=245&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=3758490&Q_SEASON=2011@@
On paper, you’d be hard-pressed to find much of a dip in Cuico’s 2011 performance. Starting in 40 of the 46 games she appeared in, Cuico ended the year fourth on the team in RBI and home runs, and was second in doubles. @@http://www.pac-12.org/portals/7/images/softball/stats/2011/HTML/ore.htm@@
But to hear Cuico tell it, her first year on campus was much more frustrating than the casual observer might notice. The culmination of missed starts and sporadic offensive production began to eat at the San Pedro, Calif., native, so when it came time for the end-of-the-year meeting with the coaching staff, emotions weren’t in short supply.
Cuico says the discussion was certainly an eye-opener, providing her with a renewed sense of why she came to Oregon in the first place — to produce the way she had her entire life. Having gone through the same thing the year before, Cuico’s roommate, junior teammate Samantha Pappas, understood her friend’s frustration.
“I think it’s just that when you come in your freshman year, you don’t have to adjust to anything because people are adjusting to you,” Pappas said. “So when you come in your sophomore year you have to learn how to adjust, which takes a while because you’ve never done it before.”
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Cuico was a late addition to the 2011 recruiting class, waiting until November of her senior year to officially sign with the Ducks. In a sport where girls are committing to colleges as early as their freshman year of high school, Cuico found comfort in the advice she received from former Oregon standout, Monique Fuiava, on her official visit. @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=4375&SPID=245&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=1312685&Q_SEASON=2010@@
Fuiava, a three-year starter at first base who compares favorably to Cuico’s style of play, told her not to let coaches rush her decision, because, “if they want you, they’ll wait for you.”
“When I met the coaches, they were telling me how they were new and the program was rising and all the girls are buying into us new coaches,” Cuico said. “When I came, I saw that. I saw that in Mo. I saw that in the girls that I met and all the coaches. They were so invested in each other.”
Coming from a tight-knit Polynesian family with two older sisters and four younger brothers, the feeling of a family environment was as important as anything in Cuico’s final decision.
And when her freshman season drew to a close with back-to-back losses to Florida in the Super Regionals, Cuico and the coaches reflected on her up-and-down performance. @@http://www.goducks.com/SportSelect.dbml?SPSID=4374&SPID=245&DB_OEM_ID=500&Q_SEASON=2010@@
“The end of the year last year was kind of rough,” she said. “It was rough only because I got confronted with the things I knew. They said things to me that I knew in my heart, but they always hurt to hear.”
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Whatever message White and his staff sent certainly landed on capable shoulders going into the offseason.
Cuico is one of only two Oregon players to start every game in 2012, holding a .313 batting average, and leading the team in walks (27) and RBI (47), is second in runs scored (37), home runs (10), and triples (1), and is fourth in doubles (8).
But when Cuico fell into a 0-for-11 slump in conference play less than a month ago, it didn’t take long before she started thinking back to the end of last season. Worried about getting taken out of the starting lineup or moved down the batting order, she expressed her concerns, and White took notice.
White stuck with Cuico, saying that, “If I believe in you, and I know you’re going to get it done, my opinion is the only one that matters.”
She responded, as she always seems to do, by going 2 for 2 with a double, home run and two walks to help the Ducks sweep Utah. @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPID=245&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205413467@@
“It opened my eyes that I am here for a reason,” Cuico said. “He did put me in this spot for a reason.
“He believes in me and I believe in my team. It’s just like a huge family trust. Trust that it will work and trust that if I don’t do it, the one who hits behind me will do it for me.”