After action-packed Taft stint, Hale shines at Stephens College

Jun. 29—For years, the majority of the international student-athletes at Taft College have been baseball players from Canada. When the pandemic hit the United States in March 2020, Athletic Director Kanoe Bandy said, the school was able to get them swiftly back across the border.

Left behind in Taft, 10,000 miles from home, was a South African softball pitcher who as a teenager dreamed of playing in the States, and prior to the shutdown had been experiencing what she would later call the best months of her life.

Now Gillian Hale was faced with living by herself off-campus in Taft for six months.

"In the beginning it was very lonely," she said, "but I had a lot of help from a lot of people."

Bandy contacted the school's foundation, on-campus community members spared meals for Hale and Bandy herself periodically invited her for dinner, to the point that she started to feel like part of the family.

"Everything was online, she was in her apartment, no way for income, her parents couldn't send her money," Bandy said. "So I all of a sudden realized, we have a student-athlete ... that's in need. How do we help them?"

The hits just kept coming for Hale, as after weathering the isolation, she spent her second season in Taft severely ill, to the point that she lost 30 pounds in two weeks — but she was the Cougars' only pitcher. She had to keep playing.

By graduation, her efforts had paid off, earning her a scholarship at NAIA Stephens College in Columbia, Mo. And with an offseason's rehabilitation and a bit of acclimation, she became an all-conference powerhouse at the plate for the Stars, batting .432 with a 1.143 OPS while doubling as her team's top pitcher.

"I was really happy to hear that she definitely found her footing and found ways to be successful," said Taft softball coach Gabrielle Brixey, "and I know that she's gonna be that leader to look for next year."

Hale grew up in the city of Centurion in South Africa's Gauteng province, playing for a small school as a teenager before joining provincial and eventually national softball teams.

"It wasn't very big," she said, "and so I feel like you really had to work a little extra harder to get recognized."

With the money Hale was paying to attend school in the U.S. as an international player, she knew she needed to see the field right away, so she took the JUCO route. She and Brixey connected on a recruiting website and communicated extensively via email, with phone calls out of the question, ensuring Hale filed all the relevant paperwork. Hale didn't have the chance to visit Taft but had Brixey as her "eyes in California," the coach said.

"Really, she trusted my guidance and my path," Brixey said, "and, without seeing campus, trusted and believed in me as a coach."

Ultimately, Hale was drawn to Taft by the allure of California and came to appreciate its small-town charm.

"All the people there were so helpful," she said. "I've never had so many people help me with so many different things."

Brixey recruited Hale as a pitcher, but she also got the chance to spend time at third base and in the outfield. Taft had a dismal 1-17 record in its abortive 2020 season, but Hale finished with the lowest ERA of any Cougar pitcher, plus a .383 batting average at the plate. More importantly, she was having the time of her life: "My teammates were amazing, my professors were great."

That was as good as her time at Taft got, however. First came the lockdown. Then the illness made her second season "a little rough," as she put it modestly. She had just three at-bats the whole season but kept having to go out and pitch, eating up 37.2 of her team's 41.1 innings, still limiting her ERA to 5.58 despite the sickness.

"She was one, though, that she wasn't going to let it show," Brixey said, "and still (gave) me 110 percent even if she had to go throw up off the field."

The process of finding a four-year school also brought considerable challenges. Her financial burdens were amplified by the weakness of the South African currency, she said, and she needed the help of Brixey, promoting her to coaches around the country, to secure the best offer possible.

"That just tells you something about the kid's character," Bandy said. "... Wouldn't it be nice if we could make decisions just based on what we like the most?"

But Hale had also found something she liked at Stephens: a chance to pursue her eventual goal of becoming a teacher from the moment she arrived.

"They have a children's school on campus where (in) your first semester, they already throw you into a classroom environment," she said.

Hale was also determined to regain her on-field aptitude. She spent the summer in South Africa on a new medication, hitting every day, gradually regaining confidence.

When she got to Stephens, she was pleasantly surprised to find that NAIA pitching was slower than what she was used to. And that her team had five pitchers, who developed into a tight-knit group and took pressure off her.

With the mentality of "As long as I'm there to do my job and move my teammate over, it's going to work," Hale emerged as the team's top all-around player.

The young Stars struggled to an 8-24 mark in 2022, but Hale still has two years of eligibility remaining. She'll be back in Columbia with the goals of settling down at the plate and increasing her strikeouts in the circle.

Bandy said she got the chance to go watch her play, "which was totally cool."

"She just looked strong," she said, "she had put some healthy weight back on so she wasn't quite as weak, and it just warmed your heart."

After the time they spent together in Taft early in the pandemic, Bandy said, "I feel like a proud mama."

Reporter Henry Greenstein can be reached at 661-395-7374. Follow him on Twitter: @HenryGreenstein.