Fresno State Athletics
Compton cementing her legacy in the Mountain West
4/14/2016 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 14, 2016
By Jason Clay
jaclay@csufresno.edu
GoBulldogs.com
FRESNO, Calif. - In Fresno State softball history the Bulldogs unquestionably have had a number of great pitchers. Fresno State's current sensation, senior righty Jill Compton, is up there with some of the all-time Bulldog greats at a school that has had 12 different All-America pitchers.
Asides from being a rock star in the circle for the Bulldogs, she has also played an important role in helping lead Fresno State into its new era of softball.
Compton was signed out of high school by former Bulldog coach Margie Wright, but Compton never played for Wright as she retired after the 2012 season as the NCAA's all-time winningest coach. Fresno State hired away a bright coach from Stanford in Trisha Ford to replace Wright. Ford's forte in her nine years as an assistant at Stanford was developing pitchers.
"I chose Fresno State because of the community," Compton said. "I used to come watch games with my dad and seeing all the fans that support Fresno State softball, I just love it here. I love coach Ford. I originally got recruited by coach Wright, but I felt welcomed by the new coaching staff."
Enter 2013, the first season for both Ford and Compton at Fresno State. That is when the coaching staff and that freshman class took the reins on the program charged with ushering the Bulldogs into a new conference with the Mountain West.
For a league that started softball in 2000 and has now reached its teenage years, the Mountain West has seen its share of very successful pitchers.
Compton, now a senior, has put together a body of work that positions her in the upper echelon with the greatest pitchers in Mountain West history.
And remember this is not a pitching era we are in, this is an offensive era. In the first four years of the Mountain West (2000-03), the then six softball-playing teams in the conference combined to average 3.67 runs off 6.82 hits per game. Those numbers have swelled up to 4.95 runs and 7.89 hits per game in these last four years (2013-16) with now nine league schools sporting softball programs.
"Right now it's a total offensive age," Ford said. "You see scores that you have never heard of. New bat technology, we have a hard ball and you have kids that are getting fisted that are hitting balls out of the ballpark. It's a tough pitchers game right now, it really is."
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Collegiate softball is unique in the fact that pitchers will often throw multiple games in a series, meaning opposing batters will get multiple at-bats against the same pitcher. The opportunity to see their pitches, the delivery and release multiple times is a huge advantage for the hitters.
But for Compton, it works in reverse. She feels she gets better the more she faces the hitters.
"I am kind of hesitant when I first pitch against teams," she said. "I've seen film on them, but they haven't hit off of me since last year, so at first I am not as confident for some reason. As I pitch against them more I feel like I know where to attack them. I'm almost more confident the second time or the third time I face them."
So far this season Compton has faced five different teams multiple times. In her subsequent appearances against those schools (five starts, two relief appearances), she has posted a 5-0 record with one save in 36.0 innings pitched, a 1.36 ERA and has allowed 2.56 fewer hits per seven innings pitched the second or third time she has faced those squads compared to the first.
"She just reinvents herself and she doesn't set up the same hitter the same way each time," Ford explained. "I think the change-up is her equalizer. You can throw that thing no matter the count, it's impressive, and as a hitter she has enough velocity that you can't sit change because then she'll gas one up on you. It just makes it hard as a hitter when she can throw that thing anytime, anyplace, anywhere."
Compton's numbers are impressive, especially when you compare them to some of the greatest pitchers in Mountain West history.
SDSU's Christina Ross, a two-time MW Pitcher of the Year (2006, 2008) who had a 1.50 career ERA, as a senior in 2008 faced 10 teams multiple times. Of those 10 teams, she made 20 additional appearances after facing them the first time (13 starts, seven in relief) and posted a 12-4 record with two saves in 96.2 innings pitched, a 1.01 ERA and gave up 0.94 fewer hits per seven innings pitched the second or third time she faced those squads compared to the first appearance.
BYU's Paige Affleck, the MW's all-time career leader in victories (91) and strikeouts (803), faced nine teams multiple times her senior year when she was the conference's pitcher of the year. In her subsequent 11 appearances after facing a team for the first time (10 starts, one in relief) she had a 7-2 record with one save in 59.1 innings pitched, a 2.01 ERA and gave up 0.43 more hits per seven innings pitched the subsequent time she faced a team compared to the first.
HIGHLY DECORATED
Ford attributes Compton's success to her mental fortitude.
"Jill is one of the most mentally-tough pitchers that I have dealt with in my 15-year career," she said.
Compton said she had to learn to be confident and credited assistant coach Carly Wynn for helping her in that department.
"I think that I've come a long way," Compton said. "When I first started I was a mental head case I'd say, but I think I've developed mentally and being more confident in myself."
Her growth from her freshman season to now her senior year is reflected in all the hardware she has collected.
She was the 2015 Mountain West Pitcher of the Year and is a two-time NFCA All-Pacific Region selection (first-team in 2015 and second-team in 2014).
Compton now has the chance to become just the third pitcher in league history to be named All-Mountain West in all four seasons of her career (would join San Diego State's Celena Velasquez and Colorado State's Jessica Strickland) and potentially the third to be named the league's pitcher of the year twice (also would join Velasquez and fellow Aztec Christina Ross).
Compton has been selected as the MW Pitcher of the Week a total of 10 times in her career (the fourth most of any pitcher in league history). In 2014, she became the first pitcher in conference history to collect the MW weekly honor in four consecutive weeks. During that incredible month Compton held a 0.86 ERA, a 12-1 record, had nine complete games in 11 starts with four shutouts, held opposing batters to a .165 average and had 72 strikeouts against only 16 walks.
STATISTICAL LEADER
Compton has put up the statistics to be considered among the best. With a month still left on the schedule this year, she ranks in the top five in Mountain West history in the following career categories: wins (79, second), shutouts (24, second), games started (123, tied second), complete games (78, third), innings pitched (746.2, third), strikeouts (631, fourth) and appearances (147, fourth).
Looking at her numbers counting only Mountain West league games, she has clearly dominated her conference opponents. In career league play she ranks first in wins, appearances, games started, complete games, shutout, innings pitched and strikeouts. She has 10 more Mountain West victories (39) than any other pitcher in league history and 42 more strikeouts.
Ford attributes all of that to the amount of work she puts in and her high softball IQ.
"She's crafty. She was a thrower, she now is a pitcher," Ford said. "She understands swing paths, understands what her strengths are, she even understands situations. She understands when she has to get a strikeout versus when she can let her defense work. I think that comes with maturity, being in those situations and failing, then understanding what she needs to do in order to succeed."
TEAM SUCCESS
Compton has played a major role in Fresno State's success under Ford.
After finishing second in the MW to SDSU in 2013 and 2014, the `Dogs won the league title in 2015 to reach the NCAA Tournament for the 31st time in program history. Fresno State's 20 league victories in 2015 – 16 of which went to Compton in the circle – set a new team record for wins in conference play and an individual record for pitching victories by her.
This year, Compton has helped guide the Bulldogs to a perfect 9-0 start in league play. She has led Fresno State back into the national rankings where the `Dogs, currently No. 23 in the NFCA Division I Softball Coaches Poll, have been ranked for nine consecutive weeks.
Fresno State is the first Mountain West team to be nationally ranked since New Mexico spent four weeks in the top 25 back in 2012.
Compton, Ford and company now look to finish the season strong as they head into this final five weeks of the season.
And for the senior from Oceano, Calif., she looks to cap off her magnificent career by leading the Bulldogs to another conference championship and back into the NCAA Tournament.
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