Stress Free
Lady Buck knows when to be goofy and when to be serious
Every winning softball team needs a comedian in the dugout. She’s that teammate who breaks the tension with a joke at just the right time or who makes a funny face behind the coach’s back when he goes on one of his rants during practice.
Smackover’s Karli Goocher doesn’t work softball. She plays it. She plays it as if it’s fun, like it’s a game. With a perpetual grin and an infectious laugh, the sophomore tries to make sure none of her teammates miss out on the amusement.
“She keeps everyone loose,” said Smackover coach Dennis Steele. “Before when we have our pregame meeting, we say ‘family’ and we say ‘Lady Bucks.’ She’s always right in the middle. The girls call her the volcano. She’s down in the bottom. She’s rocking and then she jumps up. She’s just a happy-golucky girl. She tries to keep everybody else up, too.”
Players like her are an asset to a team even if they never crack the starting lineup. But, Goocher’s swing is as big as her personality. And, the glove she carries around in the field isn’t some sort of prop. She knows how to use it, too.
“I’m pretty goofy. I try to keep a positive attitude at all times, try to pump up my team when they’re down. I call myself that person to get the team up on their feet when they’re down in the dumps,” Goocher said. “I try to pump them back up. There’s a time to be goofy and a time to be serious. I know when to be goofy and when it’s time to be serious.”
Offensively, Goocher is the No. 2 hitter and has led the Lady Bucks this season with a .444 batting average, including two home runs. Defensively, she has played catcher, first base, centerfield, left field and third base.
“So far, pretty good,” she answered when asked about her season. “I’m hitting pretty good, playing first pretty good.”
Goocher enjoyed a Rookie of the Year campaign as a freshman, batting .453 with three homers while playing leftfield. After losing several senior starters from that team, she has been one of several players to swap positions.
“Our first baseman had to be our main pitcher and he moved me to first,” said Goocher, who also shares time at catcher with senior Lexie Gilbert. “If I could choose, I’d rather catch. It’s my home. It’s where I can take charge on the field and I know what I’m doing. I just feel comfortable there.”
“I just want Karli to get some catching in for next year,” said Steele. “She’s a very good catcher. If she had her druthers, she’d probably rather catch than play first base. But, she understands Lexie’s a senior and Lexie has caught for four years.”
Plus, playing catcher can be a little bit serious and stressful at times. Last season, she said all she had to worry about was not running
into the wall. That’s not the case, now.
“Last year was more laid back for me, I guess,“she said. “This year, I’m catching some so that means I have to learn everything in catching and I have to learn everything at first (base). Sometimes I’m in the outfield, which, there’s not really a lot to learn in the outfield. But, just the signs and what you need to do, what you need to cover, all that kind of stuff. So, this year is a little more stressful because I have to actually know all the signs for multiple positions - more responsibility.
“I’m not going to lie, sometimes I wish he’d just put me back in the outfield. But, honestly, I love taking on more challenges, more responsibilities. I feel like I can prove myself if I have more responsibility. I like it better with the more responsibilities and the more things I have to remember.”
The jury is still out on whether the increased defensive responsibilities will help or hinder Goocher in the batter’s box. Although, so far, so good. She said hitting the ball is mostly an above-the-shoulders exercise. Her positive attitude helps.
“Oh my gosh, confidence is the key, not only with hitting the ball but in everything,” she said. “If you go up there and you’re not worrying about anything and all you’re thinking about is hitting the ball, you’re going to hit the ball and it’s going to go somewhere.”
The confrontation between hitter and pitcher is one of those epic sports battles. Ever the ray of sunshine, Goocher looks at it differently, insisting her battle isn’t with the pitcher.
“I actually look at it as me against the ball. I mean, I like competition but I don’t want to start a war or anything. I just look at it as me against the ball,” she explained. “I say, ‘this is the ball. It’s just a ball. All you have to do is hit it.’ You just have to see it and you have to hit it. It’s me against the ball. I don’t really ever look at the pitcher. I just look at their hands and try to see the ball come out of their hands.”
An interesting approach that has seemed to work. Goocher has been one of the area’s best overall hitters. She has displayed her home run power but has hit for average even better.
“I think I’d rather have base hits,” she
said. “If you’re trying to hit a home run every time, you’re not going to do so good. If you go up there trying to hit a base hit, you’ll do pretty good.”
“She sees the ball real well and she takes the ball where it’s pitched,” said Steele. “A lot of hitters want to pull everything. She stays back on the ball. She gets a lot of hits to right field. She’s gotten a lot better seeing the ball and hitting the ball to all fields this year.”
While Goocher has taken it upon herself to pick her teammates up when they’re down, picking her own self up is a primary focus this season. The Lady Bucks struggled down the stretch last season and she admitted to losing a bit of confidence herself.
“I was not happy with the way my season ended last year. I got down on myself and just didn’t do very well,” said Goocher. “If I struck out, I took the attitude I had into my defense and then it would mess my defense up. It’s like a snowball effect. I’m going to try to take it an inning at a time so I don’t stay bummed out the whole game if I make an error. I’m going to try my best to take it inning by inning, regroup myself after I mess up.
“You’re going to mess up. If you have a perfect game, call and let me know because I want to get your autograph. You’re going to mess up. You’re going to make mistakes. It’s how you recover or how you make up for those mistakes. It’s how you show you’re not really hurt after you make the mistake because everybody makes mistakes.”
Even Goocher’s sunny world has rain sometimes. Smiling through the rain drops is her goal this season. If her laughter is infectious, a somber mood probably would be as well. For the Lady Bucks, a happy-go-lucky Goocher is the best Goocher.
“What I try to do to stay confident. If I do strike out or make a bad error, I try to go back to the dugout and just regroup from that and tell myself I’m going to make up for it,” she said.
“One thing about Karli, she’s a very hard worker. If she doesn’t get a hit every time up, she’s mad. She sets her standards high,” said Steele. “Last year she was a freshman and she got thrown in. She put a lot on pressure on herself. This year, she’s a little more relaxed. I don’t think she’s as bad as she was last year. She still puts a lot of pressure on herself. But, not as much as last year. Last year, she wanted to do it all.”