So Cal Athletics (Calif.) center fielder Brooke Vines can be a terrifying sight to opposing defenses whenever she steps into the batter’s box.

It’s not because she’s an imposing power hitter. It’s because the girl is pure speed. Defenses know there is no margin for error if they want to make a play to get her out. Even if they do everything by the book, Vines still has a good chance to beat it out at first because of her speed.

Basically, Vines unleashes havoc whenever she makes contact or gets on base. It’s like having a track athlete in a softball uniform.

“Actually, my aunt and my dad and my mom all ran track, so there’s some speed in the family,” said Vines, who picked up an invite to join the Louisville Slugger Hit Club last week at the Boulder Independence Day Tournament. “And my aunt (Jstone Barnes) was actually a slapper at (Cal State) Fullerton when she was in college.”

With all that speed in the family, it’s easy to see why Vines’ high school, Palos Verdes Peninsula, Calif., tried to get her to sign up for the track and field team.

“I actually ran with a track team that was ranked No. 5 in the country for a while,” said Vines, who has signed with Tennessee. “I didn’t compete. I just ran and practiced with them. I just really stuck with softball. In high school, they tried to get me (to run track), but I was like, ‘Sorry, same season. I can’t do both.’ I don’t think I could have done it.”

Vines, who has been compared to Raven Chavanne, a former All-American slapper at Tennessee, has been trying to add to her offensive arsenal in the past year.

“I actually started of as a right-handed hitter and then I switched to the left side when I was in the seventh grade,” Vines said. “I mainly just started hitting the past year, year-and-a-half. But before I was just straight small ball, slap the ball. You know, just tap it, bunt it and run. Right now, I’m trying to include just hitting away, so I can be more versatile and more of a threat.”

So what does the Southern California speedster like to do when she’s away from the softball field?

“OK, I like to fish,” Vines said. “I fish a lot. I like to go deep-sea fishing with my grandpa. You have to be very
patient. We do it a lot in the summer, during the week if I have time in the mornings. We go out at San Pedro at the port over there. It’s nice. You get on a boat and take it out there.”

Does she gut the fish after a day at sea?

“No, I don’t gut ’em,” she said. “We get someone else to do that. I don’t mess with that. But it’s fun to fish. I like it.”

Vines and her So Cal A’s teammates will be fishing for big game in a few weeks at the PGF Nationals.

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