For The Tribune

When Anna Bullard began playing softball at Seymour High School, she was an infielder. She now works in the outfield, and said she is happy out there.

“I’ll do whatever the coach tells me, but I like right field,” Bullard said. “It’s a little different, a little more involved as far as you get to back up first. You do plays like that. It’s just a little bit different of a profile. I definitely like the defensive aspect of it. It’s a little more controlled than when you face different pitching. You’re a little less out of your comfort zone I think in that.”

In the outfield, the Owls rely on communication to field the ball.

“In the outfield, since you have three people covering a lot of ground, you can kind of tell where the ball will go a little more towards, one way or another,” Bullard said. “That comes down to communication between you and the person also going for the ball.

“The outfielder always has priority on a ball because it’s easier to catch a ball running forward. So you’ve got to communicate with your infield as well.”

As a hitter, Bullard prepares before she leaves the dugout by watching her teammates bat to see what kind of pitches the pitcher is throwing.

“It starts before you get in the batter’s box because coach always tells us if you think about it by the time you get in the batter’s box it’s too late,” Bullard said. “You look at speed and you watch how much the variance is between the fastball and the change-up.

“A lot of pitchers want to get ahead in the count, so they will start with a first pitch strike, so you definitely look for the first pitch being one of the best pitches.”

Bullard said she looks for most pitches that keep the ball out of the middle of the strike zone.

“Most pitchers will stay in that comfort zone around the knees, or they really like that rise ball up by where your hands are,” she said. “You tend to get one or the other. I think everyone likes it waist-high, down the middle. I’ll take a higher pitch over a lower pitch any day. I’m comfortable hitting just about anywhere but first.”

Bullard said she has played softball for as long as she can remember.

“I definitely started playing when I was real young,” she said. “ I was part of the Seymour Flames team way back in the day. I played with them for a long while. I played with the Seymour Middle School team even though I came from Immanuel.”

She said she enjoys playing at home.

“We get a lot of good support from fellow students and from parents,” Bullard said. “Our parents club — and the parents in general — are awesome, so they bring a lot of support. All the softball teams are at home games, the JV and varsity both attend, and so we get a lot of support that way, as well.

“We’ll see kids from other teams come over after practice and support us, things like that, and it’s really nice to have that support.”

While the high school season is in the spring, many players play all year.

“Softball is technically a spring sport, but it’s definitely an all-year thing,” Bullard said. “It’s nice to be outside when the weather permits, to be in that environment instead of being in the gym all the time. It’s just totally different than any other sport I played. In my younger days I played basketball, tennis, volleyball. There is definitely something different with softball. There is low contact so it’s not necessarily as physical as other games. It’s also a very friendly game compared to a lot of things.”

The Owls won 15 games last spring and Bullard said she expects another winning season.

“I think we definitely have a positive outlook,” she said. “I think we’ll have a winning season and since Coach (Jerry) Burton came in was to get to the sectional championship game, and win a sectional championship.

“I think this year it’s definitely going to take every aspect of the game. I don’t think we necessarily can 100 percent say that one aspect of our game is going to dominate and carry us through.”

Bullard has enjoyed attending Seymour High School.

“I’m so happy with my choice to attend Seymour,” Bullard said. “We have a lot more freedom. I can express myself and that kind of thing. The academic opportunities here have been amazing and the option of going into college with a lot of college credits is very nice. A lot of our extracurricular and co-curricular programs are really awesome that students don’t always get to experience.”

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Name: Anna Bullard

School: Seymour High School

Parents: Baron and Rachel Bullard

Sibling: Noah

Sports: softball 4 years, volleyball 2 years

Athletic highlights: sectional runner up 2017

Organizations: National Honor Society, dance marathon committee, show choir

Plans after high school: attend Purdue University, study human biology and biochemistry

Favorite food: pho

Favorite TV show: Friends

Favorite movie: 10 Things I hate about you

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