3 reasons why Wisconsin softball is the right fit for this Beaver Dam senior (2024)

Abby Schmitt knows a thing or two about what University of Wisconsin softball coach Yvette Healy is looking for when the veteran Badgers coach is recruiting players to Madison.

Schmitt,now coach of the Beaver Dam High School softball team, played softball for two seasons at Wisconsin, with her second and final season coinciding with Healy's first season at the helm in 2011.

“They’re not going to recruit someone that’s only a one-star player,” Schmitt said. “… (Healy's) not going to take someone that’s only good at one part of the game. She’s going to take a good teammate, she’s going to take a good defensive, offensive (player) and (good) baserunners.

"She wants a well-rounded player. That’s what she’s going to get in Gabby Fakes.”

Coach Scott Mirkes and his Oregon softball team got a first-hand look at just how good Fakes is in the circle during an 8-1 loss at Beaver Dam in a Badger Large Conference showdown on Thursday.

“When you’re looking at someone you haven’t seen before, that’s the first time we’ve played Beaver Dam, you hear things and you hear other coaches talk,” Mirkes said. “You want to see for yourself if that matches what you’re hearing. It’s always different to see somebody play. I thought she had command, not necessarily talking about pitches, but she was in control of the circle and in control of the space. You could tell that her team was confident with her in the circle.”

Here are three things that make Fakes a good fit for the Badgers.

Gabby Fakes has command of the circle — and the game

Mirkes opened by talking about how Fakes shows an ability to have “control of the circle and (be) in control of the space.” When batters come to the plate to face Fakes, they’re running on her time, which is fast.

It just so happens that what’s going on in Fakes' mind is “go, go, go.” She likes to move fast and keep opponents off balance with her speed of the game.

“I have to slow her down sometimes," said her father, Jacob Fakes, who serves as an assistant coach forBeaver Dam. “That’s the way she’s always been. They have to get in and they have to be ready.”

Fakes said that even when she tries to pace herself she's not always able to shift to a slower speed.

“I thought I was working slow today,” Fakes said with a smile after defeating Oregon. “I tried to work slow. … I don’t really want to wait around. I hate when it takes forever.”

What adds to the sense of control is Fakes' stoic demeanor. When she’s in the dugout or not playing softball, she’s one of the loudest, most bubbly seniors you’ll meet. Inside the circle, she becomes focused and determined to pitch whichever one of the six pitches she has in her arsenal to help the Golden Beavers win.

“I’ve just got to stay calm and not let the past affect you because it’s always in the moment,” Fakes said. “You’ve got to focus on what’s in the moment.”

Fakes' teammates feed off her confidence in the circle, something that stood out to Mirkes. Even after a potential no-hitter was broken up by a single from Oregon’s Carly Zych and a run was scored off an error in the fourth inning, Beaver Dam's confidence never wavered— because Fakes wouldn’t allow it.

After Zych scored, Fakes got Oregon’s Maya Rudy to ground into a double play to end the inning with Beaver Dam leading 6-1.

“She controlled the space and the team, when they were on the field, defensively, they were settled,” Mirkes said. “It didn’t matter if it was an error (by Beaver Dam shortstop Liv DiStefano) on a throw that got by the first baseman, her reaction was the same. That’s what you want from the pitcher— you celebrate the good plays and then the other plays, ‘Hey, I’ll take care of that, don’t worry about it.’”

Gabby Fakes keeps batters off balance

Zych had one of Oregon’s two hits off Fakes, but her fourth-inning single didn't come easy for the Panthers. She said Fakes has great velocity, gets on batters' hands with inside pitches and mixes the speed of her pitches very well, something Zych said “you need to be an elite pitcher.”

Fakes’ changeup is tough to hit after she zooms a fastball by batters, and her knowledge of where to place the ball is second to none.

“The first part of the game, she was working out, out, out,” Zych said. “When she saw us sitting on that, she started coming in. She did a very good job of reading the hitters. She was hitting her spots and mixing speeds very well.”

Fakes has a tough two-seam fastball that curves up and in, coming in on a batter’s hands. She said she likes to do it high, but she can do the pitch at any height.

“I’m just trying to fool them,” she said.

Fakes accomplished just that in the fifth inning. She was just starting to pitch inside to the Panthers and got three straight outs. The first one was a groundball right back toward her that forced her to dive to her right side, field it, pop up and throw a strike to first on wet dirt.

“I just kept my head on the ball,” Fakes said. “… I had to focus on not letting it slip out of my hand because of the weather.”

The next two batters, Fakes got the Panthers to strike out swinging on inside pitches.

“It’s just tough facing a pitcher like that,” Zych said. “She was hitting both sides of the plate with movement. You’ve got to pick one to sit on either outside or inside. It can be tough sometimes when she’s giving you strikes on the inside corner and you’re sitting outside to not take a hack at those ones.”

Even when the Panthers had runners on first and second in the seventh inning due to an error and a single to center, Fakes maintained her composure.

She got the next three Panthers batters to swing and miss for strikeouts and didn't allow any more runs to score.

“I just focused on hitting my spots and not letting those two get to me and stay really calm and collected,” Fakes said. “That’s when I feel I do my best, when I’m super nervous, I tend to do worse than when I’m calm.”

Gabby Fakes provides power from the leadoff spot

This spring is the first time Fakes has started to bat since tearing her right PCL during a club softball tournament in Colorado around the Fourth of July last year.

Entering Thursday’s game against Oregon, Fakes had gone 12 for 14 at the plate with six RBIs, a home run and a double— and her bat has become a concern for any pitcher facing her.

Oregon’s Lauryn Etienne experienced that feeling in Thursday’s game when Fakes hacked away for two doubles, two singles and an RBI in her four at bats.

“It’s hitting gaps and she hit the ball hard every time,” Mirkes said. “That’s a pretty dynamic mix. They were good at bats. There wasn’t a bad swing in the bunch of them. You would expect that out of someone who’s highly acclaimed as she is.

“When she’s there, she lives up to what people have talked about. That’s sometimes a hard thing to do when people are talking about you before they get a chance to see them. She’s every bit as good as people are giving her credit for, which is to her credit. You’ve got to work. Sometimes those expectations are hard to live up to. In this case, it fits her.”

Schmitt said Fakes works hard, describing her ace as a gym rat or a cage rat. The senior always seems to be working on something. Her hitting is one of those works in progress —with lots of tee-work and live pitches with her dad to better her craft.

That hard work has paid off against good teams like Oregon. The Panthers won the Badger West Conference last season and returned quite a bit of talent, but Fakes showed up ready to play the talented bunch.

“Great players play great against great teams,” Mirkes said. “That’s what you look for in players who are ready to play at the next level. They welcome that opportunity. It’s not a challenge or an obstacle.”