Gators work to make freshman feel at home

By WAYNE GRUMET

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 5, 2001

April Slate has come a long way since her first Land O'Lakes practice. The freshman wandered onto the field that day feeling like a lost puppy.

"The first time out I didn't know anybody," Slate said. "During my first warmups I didn't know what I was doing."

The Gators quickly helped Slate feel at home, but senior Ashley Patton went a step further and helped Slate make an impact this season.

Patton, the Times County Player of the Year in 2000, has been Land O'Lakes' resident ace. Slate is being groomed to grab that role after Patton graduates in June.

"We certainly hope (April will step in)," Land O'Lakes coach Jerry English said. "She is just so talented and she has displayed the willingness to work at it."

Patton has always been ready to help Slate, but the truth be told, Slate hasn't needed much help.

"She knows she's in control of the game. She knows how to win," Patton said. "She's got it all. She's never gotten a big head about it. She doesn't walk around like, 'I'm a freshman on varsity."'

Patton knows what it's like to be a freshman on varsity. However, she doesn't know what it's like to have a mentor.

"When I was a freshman, I didn't have anybody to look up to, which was kind of hard," Patton said. "It was Amanda Harmon and I. We kind of fed off each other."

But when Slate gets in trouble, Patton can be found at first base.

"I'm right there and I always talk to her and hopefully that helps," Patton said.

Slate rarely gets rattled on the mound, but if trouble arises, English likes having Patton nearby.

"Ashley encourages her a whole lot," English said. "If she gets rattled, Ashley goes over there and pats her on the back. We're a close-knit team. They all do it."

Slate added, "It can get kind of scary but Ashley's been helping a lot."

Slate has her sights set on striking her own brand of fear into hitters by expanding her repertoire.

This season, she has mixed a fastball and a changeup to compile a 3-2 record with a 1.30 earned-run average.

Slate has been working on a riseball and hopes to have that weapon in her arsenal by the end of the summer. Once the riseball is mastered, she will try to pick up the dropball. Slate has also committed herself to improving her velocity so she can become a strikeout pitcher like Patton, the county's leader with 112.

Patton has no doubt Slate can do it.

"She's smart. She knows the game," Patton said. "She is more set as a freshman pitcher than I was."

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