Shortstop makes her mark in preseason

When freshman Stephanie Pellerito first stepped into a batter's box, she hated it. \nShe was five years old playing tee-ball on an all-boys team with her brother in Santa Anna, Calif. She didn't even want to play in the first place -- her dad made her.\nFour high school all-league honors and two travel team All-America honors later, Pellerito is happily playing softball. And she's glad her dad made her stick with it.\nPellerito, a shortstop, is one of four freshmen that joined the Hoosiers this year, and she has had a standout preseason. \nIn the Hoosier's first preseason game, Pellerito ended an eight-inning long scoreless tie with a game-winning RBI double. The next weekend she scored a run in a rain-shortened game against Eastern Illinois University. \n"She's very coachable," IU head coach Stacey Phillips said. "The talent and skills she has are only the tip of the iceberg."\nAfter a couple years playing ‑ and hating ‑ tee-ball, Pellerito started to play softball and gained enthusiasm for it, mainly because she recognized she had a knack for it. \n"God gave me a talent," Pellerito said. "Not many people are given talents, so I should use it."\nShe has played with softball travel teams every summer, and when she was 12, Pellerito competed in a tournament on the very same field she plays on now, the IU Softball Field.\n"It's weird," she said. "I never thought I'd play here again."\nPhillips made sure Pellerito, a native of Tustin, Calif., did play in Bloomington again. \n"When you recruit, you look for things that might tell what the player is going to be like, things like if they're family oriented and teachability," Phillips said. "I think Stephanie is capable of playing at a Big Ten level."\nBut Pellerito wasn't sure which direction she wanted to go.\n"A lot of people in California were like 'Oh, I'm going to go to UCLA,'" Pellerito said. "I didn't know what I wanted to do. I wanted to live by the moment."\nBut after her involvement with an Indiana travel team, the Indiana Magic, Pellerito decided on IU.\nCome spring, Pellerito will most likely start for the Hoosiers, and her successful fall hasn't gone unnoticed.\n"The transition from high school to college ball is different," said sophomore infielder Anna Olson. "I think Stephanie has done a good job stepping up and fielding her position and just going up there relaxed and hitting the ball as well."\nOlson said Pellerito has improved since arriving at IU.\nSenior pitcher Megan Roark is equally enthusiastic about Pellerito.\n"Stephanie, I think, is a really special player," Roark said. "Shortstop is a really important position in softball ‑ you have to be a leader. She's made it look easy. She's very at ease in her position; she doesn't have jitters."\nBut Pellerito admits she has a long way to go.\n"My goal is to get better each time I go out there," she said.\nAnd her goals aren't limited to the playing field.\nAfter she graduates, Pellerito, whose first language was Spanish, wants to be a high school Spanish teacher. \nShe thinks the transition from taking direction on the field to giving directions in the classroom will be easy.\nOlson agrees.\n"I think it's really cool," Olson said. "I think she should keep going and pursuing her dreams. She would be good at it"