All-American Flashback: Jaclyn Traina (2011-14)
3/2/2016 12:00:00 AM | Softball
In honor of Alabama softball's 20th anniversary, rolltide.com will be catching up with our 20 former All-Americans in a series of feature interviews. Our 17th feature is with Jaclyn Traina (2011-14), a four-time All-American pitcher who helped guide the Crimson Tide to its first ever national title in 2012.
By the time Jaclyn Traina arrived in Tuscaloosa from Naples, Fla., prior to the 2011 season, it was only a matter of 'when' not 'if' that a team from the Southeastern Conference would break through and win the league's first national title. Tennessee was the first to make it to the championship series, eventually falling to Arizona in 2007. Florida made a pair of appearances in 2009 and 2011 but again fell short as the SEC would enter 2012 missing the one crucial piece of hardware that would most convincingly announce the conference's arrival on the national stage.
Traina was a freshman on the 2011 Alabama team that lost to eventual championship series participant Florida in the Women's College World Series. It was the Tide's seventh trip to Oklahoma City and it's third-straight appearance as one of the final four teams. Heading into 2012, the team was more determined than ever to reach its ultimate goal.
Traina's journey towards that moment started with a passing suggestion from a childhood neighbor.
"I started playing softball because a neighbor suggested it," Traina said. "It wasn't something that I grew up around a lot. It stuck with me ever since and then after I moved down to Florida I started playing and never stopped. Honestly, I didn't grow up watching softball. I didn't even realize you could go to college and get a scholarship for playing softball until maybe right before I started high school. I didn't really look at schools or watch softball, I was just playing for fun. Once I got to high school and started talking with Coach Robert [Iamurri] about it, it was something that I was all for.
"I started paying attention to the programs once I started the recruiting process. It came down to Florida, Florida State and Alabama. When I came to Alabama I was completely sold. I took other visits but, in my heart, I knew Alabama was where I was going to be and become the best Jaclyn I could be."
Traina caught the eye of plenty of big schools and, on her visits, she was always accompanied by Coach Iamurri and his daughter Ryan, who played softball at Naples High School alongside Traina. Though she went on a few trips of her own, the allure of visiting a big softball school pushed Ryan to tag along with Jaclyn. To most, she was just the coach's daughter but, to Alabama, she was a guest and was treated as such.
"She went on a few trips of her own but she wanted to see Alabama and came along when I came on my visit," Traina said. "They treated Ryan with such respect and just like any other recruit. [Patrick] Murphy, Aly[son Habetz] and everyone made you feel loved and wanted. Being 12 hours away from home, that was something I needed."
Alabama ended up taking both players as Traina and Iamurri arrived together in Tuscaloosa prior to the 2011 season, which followed a tough loss as the No. 1 seed in the 2010 Super Regional round to Hawai'i. For a young team, it was important to learn the lessons from the veterans if they were to capitalize on their talent potential.
"Freshman year was such an eye-opening experience," Traina said. "The game was played at such a faster pace. Coming from high school, my stuff was good but it wasn't good enough quite yet to win games. I had to buy into the process and listen. Kelsi Dunne was a great leader for me. She was a senior and had been there before, so she was a great mentor. Learning from her and building my pitches was one thing but she really helped me build my confidence as a young pitcher coming into a huge program. Having someone there with a lot of success helped a lot. Having the confidence and poise of someone like Kendall Dawson behind the plate was really relaxing out there too. Having that bond with your catcher is so important. If you talk to any pitcher, it's important. She had such a calming presence back there which would make any pitcher feel confident."
Another successful season saw the Tide make it back to the World Series in 2011 but they fell just short of their ultimate goal. In 2012, Traina and the team were on a mission to do what no other Alabama team had done before: finish it.
"We did well my freshman year and got a great taste of success," Traina said. "Come 2012, we knew exactly what we had to do. We knew the process and we knew what we were getting ourselves into. There were so many things that happened that year that made us into such a strong team. We were so prepared. Anything that came our way, we were ready. We were hitting on all cylinders and everybody was on the same page. It couldn't have gone any smoother. Obviously, it's not easy winning a national championship but when everybody is on the same page, it makes it so much easier."
After winning the SEC regular season and tournament titles, Alabama entered the 2012 NCAA Tournament as a No. 2 national seed and one of the favorites to win it all. Traina had firmly established herself as the staff ace, throwing 218.2 of the team's 374.0 innings with a 33-2 record and 1.73 ERA, winning SEC Pitcher of the Year honors. Senior Amanda Locke threw a complete-game victory in the opening game of the NCAA Regional round, but Traina would go on to throw every inning for the Tide from that point on.
"We really took it day-by-day," Traina said. "After going through postseason and getting to the World Series, I expected to get the ball. I was prepared for it and we had prepared all year for it. We wanted to go the distance and were physically ready for that. More importantly, we were mentally ready for that. If you're not mentally ready, it doesn't matter how physically prepared you are. We just took it day-by-day. Sometimes when you get ahead of yourself, that's when you start feeling the anxiety so taking it game-by-game was really important to me."
After a Super Regional win over Michigan and victories over Tennessee and Arizona State in Oklahoma City, a win over top-ranked Cal on Sunday secured Alabama's first appearance in the national championship series where a matchup against fourth-ranked Oklahoma Sooners and national player of the year Keilani Ricketts awaited. The Sooners won the first game, 4-1, before the Tide rallied to win game two, 8-6, and set up a winner-take-all game three.
Rain delayed the start of game three and, after Alabama fell behind 3-0, more rain forced another delay after three innings of play.
"I remember things weren't going well and the rain was coming down," Traina said. "Lauren Sewell was braiding my hair in the dugout and we were the only ones in there because the entire team was outside in the rain cheering. I looked out and they had so much fight. Players that normally weren't the most vocal players were some of the loudest ones out there. That showed they had a lot of fight and it really inspired me. It was the last game, it was raining and things could still go either way. I wanted to fight for them."
That rain delay marked a turning point for Traina and the Tide, as they scored four runs in the fourth inning to take a 4-3 lead and then added another in the fifth to pull ahead 5-3. Down to its final out in the seventh inning, Oklahoma mustered a late comeback bid with a solo home run by sophomore Lauren Chamberlain to draw the Sooners within one as Ricketts stepped to the plate. In a matchup between two All-Americans befitting the stage, Traina struck Ricketts out looking to secure the SEC's first national title in the sport.
The image of Traina celebrating with her teammates at Hall of Fame Stadium remains one of the most iconic in program history and made her an instant celebrity amongst the Tide faithful. To this day, Traina is recognized in all corners of the country, even those where Alabama fans would least likely be.
"I still get recognized all the time," Traina said. "I was even in Auburn recently at a book store and an older woman asked to take a selfie with me because she heard me say my name to one of the clerks. It's so humbling because so many people are inspired by our team and what we show when they see us play. It still happens to this day anywhere. I've had people at many places across the country that have recognized me since then."
Murphy and the Alabama coaches make it a priority to allow each player to play near their hometown at least once during their career. Alabama traveled to Fort Meyers, Fla. during Triana's junior year, just 40 miles from her hometown of Naples.
"There were so many trips when we got to go to teammates hometowns and meet their families," Traina said. "When the team got to come to Florida and see my home my junior year and we got to go to the beach, that was awesome. The coaches are a huge part of that. They always try to make sure everybody gets a home visit during their career. That was really special to me. I got to share my Alabama family with my family at home."
Now two years removed from her time at Alabama, Traina knows that the lessons learned as a player with the Tide have proven invaluable to her current career.
"Murph does such a great job of teaching how to represent ourselves after we're done at Alabama," Traina said. "He teaches us about being kind, writing thank-you cards and having an attitude of gratitude. Everything that happens to us at Alabama, we are so privileged. Having fans that know who I am wouldn't have been possible without having such a great program and it starts at the top with Murph. If it wasn't for him, we wouldn't have any of this. Even to this day, Alabama has paved such a great way for me. I'm forever indebted to them and I can never thank them enough. If it wasn't for them I wouldn't be where I am today."
Traina is still very involved with the sport of softball, playing professionally in Japan and, during the summer, playing for Team USA. She has been on the roster every summer since 2014 and hopes to continue towards the ultimate goal of competing in the Olympics in 2020.
"It's definitely a goal," Traina said. "I take it year-by-year and I'm just thankful right now in the moment to pave the way for athletes to possibly play in those 2020 Olympics and beyond. We aren't paid to play for Team USA. We play because we love the game and we love our teammates. I think it would be big if we can get in the 2020 Olympics and I'm just happy to be part of the process now."
In addition to coaching at Florida Southwestern alongside her former prep coach Robert Iamurri, Traina recently signed with the National Pro Fastpitch league's newest expansion team, the Scrapyard Dawgs. The 2016 NPF Championship Series will be played at Rhoads Stadium this year, giving Traina a chance to play for a different team in a very familiar surroundings.
"When I heard that, I was like 'no way!'" Traina said. "I had to play on that field again. I remember the last time I walked off the field at Rhoads Stadium, I wrote down how I was feeling. I thought to myself that I would never have that same feeling again playing there with that mound with all of our fans. That's something you can never get back. To have the possibility to come back and play in the NPF would be an amazing feeling."
