Middleboro’s Amber White Pitching in for Bridgewater State Softball Team

By Jim Fenton, The Enterprise (Brockton)

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- Her college softball career began roughly 150 miles from home in the spring of 2011.

Following a brilliant career at Middleboro High School, pitcher Amber White headed north to Plymouth State University in New Hampshire, where she was 10-11 with a 2.46 earned run average and 100 strikeouts as a freshman.

White, who was The Enterprise’s softball player of the year in 2010, enjoyed her brief time playing for the Panthers, but she wanted to move back to Massachusetts.

“I loved my team and the softball there and I still talk to players on the team,’’ said White. “But everything else just wasn’t a good fit for me. I knew I wanted to be closer to home.’’

White couldn’t have gotten much closer to home when she transferred to Bridgewater State University, just a short drive from Middleboro.

The Bears’ softball program is thrilled that White, now a junior, decided to make the switch from Plymouth State to BSU.

After being the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference co-pitcher of the year in 2012, White was the sole winner of that award this season and is among the national leaders in Div. 3 with a stingy 0.63 earned run average.

White (15-6, 133 strikeouts and just 13 walks) is one of the main reasons why BSU is in the NCAA Div. 3 tournament for the first time since 2009. The sixth-seeded Bears play at third-seeded Babson College today at 2 p.m. to start a double-elimination regional (game was postponed until Friday at 9 a.m.).

“Her talent is just through the roof,’’ said interim head coach Allie LeBlanc. “She’s always been our go-to pitcher. She’s very good at what she does. She’s always going to hit her spots.

“She’s going to keep the batters off balance. She also controls the pace of the game very well. It’s very difficult for a batter to control the pace of Amber pretty much.’’

White had a sensational four-year career at Middleboro High with a career earned run average under 1.00 and three no-hitters as a senior when she was 22-1.

A three-time Enterprise All-Scholastic, White led the Sachems to the Div. 2 final in 2010 before heading to Plymouth State. She is still piling up strikeouts and walking a minimum of batters, but White’s style of pitching has changed a bit.

“In high school, I was more of a blow-it-by-people type of pitcher,’’ said White. “Once you get to college, it’s really difficult to do that. I have added a lot more spin to my pitchers and keep them low so that they can’t get those big hits.

“You need that spin so they can’t get good contact on it. I try to keep them off balance rather than blow it by them.’’

White was on top of her game in the MASCAC tournament last weekend, earning most valuable players honors when she allowed one earned run in 28 innings, striking out 27 with one walk and a 0.25 ERA.

“I saw a different side of her throughout that tournament,’’ said LeBlanc. “I saw this hyper focus coming from her. Her index finger was cut because of all the spins she throws, but she had the blinders on, it was tunnel vision.

“She felt nothing, heard nothing and saw nothing except for (catcher Brianna Strecker’s) glove and that’s all she was going to focus on the entire game.’’

White is 31-12 with a 1.18 ERA, 265 strikeouts and 15 shutouts in 54 games over two seasons at BSU.

A biology major, White was recently named to the NCAA Div. 3 Capital One Academic All-District team after posting a 3.64 grade-point average.

“It’s a perfect fit for me,’’ said White of being at BSU. “It was a lot better in my second season after having that first season with a lot of the girls. We had that bond together and played more comfortable.

“I’m a little bit surprised at how I’ve done, but I always knew I could do well.’’