When the Ball Finds Her Glove
Colorado State Softball looks to turn communication into momentum in 2026
Liv Sewell
Most difficult hits seem to find their way toward shortstop.
Grounders with a certain edge. Slow rollers which die between the bags. Line drives that demand reaction before thought. The ball has a way of finding the player who can handle it — the one who won’t flinch at a hit barreling toward their glove.
Kaylynn English knows the playbook. She’s seen the trick hits and bunt looks. The plays designed to pull her left, right and forward in the same breath. And it isn’t second nature, but the only nature: Iinstincts sharpened through repetition, failure and trust.
And this season, that trust has a name. Jac Smith.
English and Smith have been connected since their club-ball days, long before Colorado State. Years of shared innings built something quieter than chemistry — an understanding which doesn’t require words in the literal sense.
Colorado State softball will be counting on that understanding this season, which opens this weekend with a five-game set in California, beginning on Feb. 6.
“I mean, they have to think alike, they have to communicate all the time and keep constant communication between the two,” Coach Jen Fisher said. “They work in tandem all the time, so I think the chemistry there is really important. They have to sort of read each other's minds, and they're assisting each other all the time, so it’s very important for our team.”
The middle infield is a conversation in motion. A glance before the pitch. A footstep taken instinctively. A flip delivered without hesitation because both players already know where the other will be.
English and Smith don’t need reminders because they read each other in fractions of seconds.
“She’s one of my best friends, so I know her inside and out, and on the field, I know how she plays,” English said. “I know how to talk to her. I know her tendencies, so it's just a deeper level on the field, I guess, knowing her in the past.”
That kind of connection doesn’t happen overnight. It’s earned through thousands of reps and moments which don’t make box scores. A shared understanding mistakes are easier to survive when someone else shares the responsibility flowing between them.
And last year, responsibility was something the entire roster was learning to carry.
“We had two starters who had had significant innings in 2024,” Fisher said. “So, last year was just really difficult to convince our young players that this will get easier, this will get better and you will get stronger.”
Colorado State entered the 2025 season welcoming a large first-year class of 10 players, thrusting the freshmen into roles which demanded maturity. The starting lineup shifted frequently like the unpredictable weather in early spring.
But like the sunshine which peeks out variably in the early months of Colorado winter, every game became an opportunity to prove oneself. And it made its way from the trials of the previous spring all the way to fall ball.
“I think there’s just a lot of better experience and a lot of confidence and a lot of really good energy going into this year,” Fisher said. “It’s also kind of redefining our roster along with professionalism and taking their jobs very seriously.”
English took that seriously long before it was expected of her.
As a sophomore last season, she anchored second base with a steadiness beyond her seasons. She appeared in 43 games and logging 42 starts and along with her consistent appearances, English posted a .986 fielding percentage, one of the most consistent defensive marks on the roster.
She knows the foundation is what matters.
“Last year and this year, I just really focused on the basics,” English said. “You've got to have the fundamentals to field the ball, and if you overcomplicate it, then things can kind of get out of whack, so just going back to the basics.”
Now, as an upperclassman, her move to shortstop is as symbolic as it is literal.
The position asks for leadership in a number of different ways—the ability to control tempo, absorb pressure and serve as the defense’s backbone. In English's first season, the roster leaned on seniors and graduate students who knew the playbook instinctively. Now, she is becoming that example.
It’s also knowing each person and how they like being talked to. Some people like the in-your-face, and then some people like the, ‘Hey, it’s okay, get it next time.’ It’s knowing your players and looking to develop that on and off the field.Kaylynn English
Leadership, she’s learned, is personal.
Tailored individually to the person you are trying to influence.
“It’s also knowing each person and how they like being talked to,” English said. “Some people like the in-your-face, and then some people like the, ‘Hey, it’s OK, get it next time.’ It’s knowing your players and looking to develop that on and off the field.”
The approach extends naturally to Smith.
As part of the large freshman class in 2025, Smith found comfort in numbers, nine others navigating the same fears and adjustments.
“It was honestly a blessing,” Smith said. “Knowing you’re going in and having people. That makes it a lot less scary.”
Though Smith didn’t log heavy playing time last season, her preparation never wavered. Her consistency, in drills, film sessions and weight room work, didn’t go unnoticed heading into this year.
“I can see my role changing,” Smith said. “Last year I was primarily a base runner, and I was another option for the middle infield. This year I think I'm looking to possibly start at second and not, you know, be up as one of the top in the depth chart, but I'm looking to really just contribute to helping the team win as best as I can.”
The connection between English and Smith has become one of the team’s quiet strengths.
“Communication within the team is one of the most important parts of it,” Fisher said. “Especially up the middle. When players can anticipate instead of reacting, that’s when you see confidence show up.”
But the emphasis on communication extends beyond the middle infield.
Fisher has seen 16 versions of the CSU roster, and the best teams, she says, are the ones which share information freely.
“I think that historically our best teams have communicated extremely well between, say, short and third, or first and second,” Fisher said. “Also, historically the best teams really communicate extremely well on offense, so a lot of teams you see a little bit more of a selfish attitude where maybe I ground it out or I struck out, and they come back to the dugout, and they don't talk to anybody. And on our team, it's really been emphasized that you have information, and your role is to help the next person as much as possible.”
That information becomes a commodity, passed quietly from one at-bat to the next. What a pitcher is showing early. How a rise ball flattens when she falls behind. Where the defense shifts when pressure builds.
The teams which communicate best don’t compartmentalize those details. They carry them onto the field. Into positioning. Into recovery after mistakes. Into whom naturally becomes responsible for keeping everyone connected.
“She played a tremendous second base last year, and I think that was really important to know her stability, her reliability, and now the team's really put the trust in her to move that over to shortstop, which can be an even greater sort of pressure-filled position,” Fisher said. “And so I think she's already done a fabulous job of that in practices, and it is a little bit uncomfortable, I think, to step into that even greater role, but I definitely feel like she's ready for it, she's worthy of it and she's worked hard.”
English’s consistency has created opportunity along with an expectation.
While her defense defined much of last season, she’s aware of where the team needs growth.
“I've been really focusing on my offense,” English said. “I know that we need people to step up on this offense. We lost a great hitter last year, Brooke Bohlender, and I want to be that person to carry this offense.”
She finished 2025 with 42 hits and an on-base percentage of .405, numbers she’s aiming to build on as her role expands. Numbers which earned her second-team All-Mountain West honors and led to her selection on the preseason all-conference team.
“One thing I’ve noticed is she’s getting much more comfortable holding others to a certain standard,” Fisher said. “She’s pushed outside of her comfort zone in helping others see the demands, the professional attitude, how we’re going to define our team.”
A year ago, much of this roster was learning how to survive together and navigate failure within a new environment. The goal became maintaining conviction through a 6-16 conference season.
Because the game has a way of revealing who it trusts. The hardest hits don’t scatter evenly but rather find the middle. They find the players asked to make decisions in seconds, to steady chaos with instinct and preparation.
For CSU, those moments will continue to funnel toward shortstop and second base. Toward two players who no longer need reminders, glances or words to know what comes next.
The ball will keep finding them.
It always does.
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