Taylor made

By Jon Schwartz

In softball, there are two different players. The haves, and the have-nots. Each group competes to the best of its ability on every given day. Each gives it all she has and accepts the rewards as best she could.

And each brings an equally important aspect of the sport to the team.

No, to have or have-not has nothing to do with talent. To compete on Michigan's softball team, a perennial national power, talent is certainly not going to be the issue. Everyone has it.

The dividing issue is speed. And those who have it are in a class by themselves.

The best softball players, the power sluggers and the ones who consistently get on base, only record hits four out of every 10 at bats.

But the top-of-the-line baserunners can be counted on to steal bases and advance extra bases almost all of the time - far more valuable once on base than the homerun hitter who drops one in for a single and then makes her way around the diamond one base at a time.

They are more often than not the ways that teams sneak by in one-run games. They are the ones who sacrifice the natural desire to launch the ball over the fence and instead lay down the bunts and get on base. And they are the ones that often stay in the shadows, hiding behind the power hitters and the ace pitchers.

Melissa Taylor is a have, and she plays the role with pride.

Sixty feet and a cloud of dust

"Speed, enthusiasm and she's a great athlete." That's how coach Carol Hutchins describes her junior speedster.

The three terms accurately depict what she brings to the team. But the intangibles are what make her a clubhouse star.

It is the fact that she always has a smile on her face, always a welcoming aura of approachability.

It is the fact that she spends practices cracking jokes on every subject imaginable, to the point that even her coaches are not safe from her wit.

And it is the fact that now, in her junior year of collegiate competition, she has matured into what Hutchins calls the team's "leader in the outfield.

"I think she's done a great job teaching the younger people," Hutchins said.

But it was Taylor's influences when she was younger - much younger - that brought her to where she is now.

It's a story that started when she was 11 and it keeps getting better.

Still waters run deep

Taylor's physique doesn't exude athleticism. She's still one of the smallest players on the team, but her size has never held her back. She's always loved baseball, following in the footsteps of other family members.

"My father and my brother always played baseball," Taylor said. "So I played baseball my whole life until I was like 11."

Taylor's story isn't of the sad variety though, where baseball loving parents push their child into a sport for their own satisfaction. Taylor had all of the influences that she could ever need, but in the end, it was still her decision to make. And she chose to play on.

"I've been playing my whole life and I love it," Taylor said. "Once I knew that I could go play at this level, there was no doubt that I was going to."

As she entered school competition though, baseball was no longer what she wanted to be playing. She got interested in fast-pitch softball, and soon realized that it was what she wanted to do with the next few years of her life.

And what she wanted to do, she wanted to excel in.

Lucky for her, she could.

She excelled in more than only softball, though. Taylor continued to exceed expectation, taking her short figure onto the basketball and volleyball courts.

"I was a decent basketball player in high school, but I was too little to go anywhere," she said. "I got a lot of little school offers for basketball, but I wanted softball."

And once she made up her mind, it was time to make her mark.

She did that early in high school with her speed, but maintained her stardom with her skills.

Skills such as holding the role of captain for three of her four years. Or a .611 career batting average. Or being named Michigan's Miss Softball in 1997, her senior year.

It all led to realizing her dream that went back to when she was around 10, and a girl from her high school chose Ann Arbor to continue her softball career. From that point, she was hooked.

So much so, that when she was planning her recruiting trips, and she visited Ann Arbor, she quickly decided to cancel all of the others.

"I wanted to come here," Taylor said. "I just wanted to check out the other schools, but I knew in my heart that I wanted to come here."

At home in Ann Arbor

Taylor is now in her second season as a Wolverine, and there have been both highs and lows.

There have been trips to the Women's College World Series. There have been disappointments in the NCAA Regional Tournament.

But with Taylor's attitude, nothing is ever too bad. At least, nothing other than the prospect of not reaching another WCWS before her time here is up.

"I want to make it back to the World Series this year and next year," she said emphatically. "It is a great feeling to be there."

And if she doesn't, she can look back on a fine career.

Taylor has earned her position as a leader on the team. She has earned the respect that she gets from Hutchins.

She deserves the fact that the coaching staff trusts her enough to give her a constant green light and let her make her own decisions at the plate - a decision that more often than not ends up in a bunt and a burst of speed down the line.

And in the end, she won't have many homeruns to back up her career. She won't be looked at by the amateur fans as the star of the team, but she will have speed.

And to those who know the sport, her abilities, her leadership, desire, and her smile through it all will be a clear reminder of the contributions she made to Wolverine softball.

DANNY KALICK/Daily

Melissa Taylor may not have the physique of most conventional athletes. But the junior brings all of the intangibles to the Wolverines that help them consistently reign as national powers.