Freshman catcher Jordan Fabian is settling in during her first season at South Carolina softball after graduating high school early to come play for the Gamecocks.
Fabian graduated from Hanahan High School in Hanahan, South Carolina, after three years, choosing to forgo her senior year to start playing for the Gamecocks.
In 2017, Fabian was named Region Player of the Year, South Carolina 3A Player of the Year and Post & Courier Low Country Player of the Year. Her team also won the South Carolina State Championship that year.
“She’s done a great job,” head coach Beverly Smith said. “It was actually easy for her, and she's a bright student, so her graduating early was an easy transition and she's certainly made the transition to college D1 ball, too."
Fabian posted two hits in her first career multi-RBI game on Wednesday in South Carolina’s 7-0 win against UNC Charlotte. Her first hit of the night was a single to the left side and her two RBIs came from a double up the middle in the fourth inning to put the Gamecocks ahead by four runs.
As a catcher, an important part of Fabian’s acclimation to the team is establishing a dynamic with the pitchers. When sophomore starting pitcher Kelsey Oh struggled in the first inning, Fabian had her back and trusted her ability to recover.
“Kelsey's a strong pitcher, so she knows what she's doing wrong whenever something's not going her way,” Fabian said. “I'll go out there and talk to her if I really think that she needs a little pep talk, but she knows what she's doing and she always corrects it.”
When Fabian was at the plate, she said she focused on what she had to do for the team in that moment.
“I was just trying to score runs, trying to move the runners," Fabian said. "We had two outs, runners in scoring position. I was just trying to get runs on the board."
Fabian's double against Charlotte was her second of the season and raised her RBI total to four.
“I was really impressed with Jordan Fabian tonight,” Smith said. “I think she did a great job with two strikes, just shortening up, making sure she put the ball in play and something happening for us. In her last AB, turning the lineup over for Mackenzie Boesel to hit the home run, I thought that was big.”
Fabian has started 22 of the 30 games she has played in this season and is currently batting .220 with a .986 fielding percentage.
“It always seems unreal here, especially freshman year,” Fabian said. “Sometimes I don't believe it but yeah, it's getting there.”