She's only a junior: Just how good is Mooresville softball ace Alex Cooper?

Softball is all Alexandra Cooper has ever known.

From the moment Alex picked up a bat at 2 years old, the journey led her to watching her sister play the sport, setting Mooresville's home run record and it has led her to the day she officially committed to Indiana University.

Sure, for Cooper, winning is great. The accolades and stats are great. Being committed to a Division-I university is great. But she doesn’t play ball for any of that.

She plays for the love of the sport.

“I’ve always gotten the feeling of, I love this game so much,” Cooper said. “It’s not going to be around forever, so I just go out every game not knowing what’s going to happen. I just want to play my best all the time.”

Cooper has indeed played her best during her junior campaign. She leads the state in runs (52) and RBI’s (53). She ranks third in home runs (15), sixth in slugging percentage (1.500), 14th in batting average (.639) and 18th in on base percentage (.703).

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The offensive explosion is something head coach Traci Ball knew Cooper was capable of. It was just a matter of finding one thing.

Confidence.

“Her confidence has just exploded,” Ball said. “You can see it on the pitcher's mound, you can see it when she’s batting. The girls are confident in her and they know every time she steps in that batter's box, something’s gonna happen."

Bloomington bound

The recruiting process can be difficult for high school athletes. The fit has to be right, from coaches to scheme, campus, academics, playing time, the whole lot. So, naturally, when coaches starting contacting Cooper, it was bit scary.

"When that came around, it was super nerve racking," Cooper said. "The whole recruiting process is so hard on everyone, whether they go DI, DII, JUCO, it's so nerve racking for everyone."

Cooper was fortunate to have a wide variety of schools contact her. Ultimately, she narrowed it down to two in the Big 10. Nearby Indiana University or the University of Michigan.

She decided on the Hoosiers.

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"I had a lot of schools contact me, so really just narrowing it down was hard," Cooper said. "I loved all the coaches that contacted me, all their programs are really good...It really just came down to, IU is 30 minutes away from my house. Where, Michigan is five hours. So, it came down to being closer to my family."

A natural gift

Cooper was no joke last season which, although a sophomore, essentially served as her freshman year of competition because of the lost COVID-19 season.

She led the Pioneers, who went 27-3, in both hits (48) and runs (35), while placing second on the team in batting average (.490), RBI's (32) and home runs (five). She also went 16-3 on the mound, pitching with an ERA of 2.41, striking out 150 batters while allowing 88 hits and 49 runs.

Back then, even with consistent numbers, the confidence wasn't all there. Cooper would often resort to slapping, relying on her speed to reach base.

Slapping is defined as a softball technique wherein the batter attempts to hit the ball to a place on the infield that's farthest from the place where the out needs to be made.

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"She did a lot of slapping last year because I think she just wasn't as confident," Ball said. "She would get frustrated a lot last year with her hitting. If she wasn't hitting the ball, she'd say forget it, I'm just going to slap, and she'd almost guaranteed get on with a slap because she's so fast."

Heading into travel ball over the summer, Cooper made it her focus to improve upon her hitting. That's when everything sort of clicked.

"My biggest goal for this year was to start swinging away more, rather than slapping,” Cooper said. “It really started to show over the summer. I hit a lot more home runs than I have in my entire life. Slapping is my safe space; I know I can get on base by slapping. But challenging myself with hitting, it just became so much more fun."

Commanding presence on the mound

While opposing defenses fear the damage Cooper can do on offense, she's more than capable on the defensive end. It's what makes her so dynamic.

She pitched her first career no-hitter in one of its biggest rivalries, the Battle of 67 with Decatur Central, defeating the then Class 4A No. 11 Hawks 6-0. Her ERA has improved to 2.28 and she's also allowed only 44 hits and 30 runs, striking out a team-high 93 batters in 64 innings.

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"A pitcher has all the control; you get the ball every single pitch," Cooper said. "It's nerve racking at times, facing really good teams. But I just act like it's just me and Kendall (Lowry) back there."

Her presence on the mound makes for only one of a trio of effective pitchers Mooresville has utilized on defense this season. Sophomore Josi Hair (8-0) has emerged as a key pitcher, as well as Zoe Kugelman (3-0). Together, they combine for 172 strikeouts.

Behind them is a stingy defense as well. The Pioneers have only allowed only 2.3 runs per game while scoring 11.2 of their own. Errors are rare with only 18 this season. Having that level of confidence in one's defense has only improved Cooper that much more.

"She's not always thinking she has to strikeout everybody," Ball said. "She did that a lot last year, and she still strikes out a lot of batters. But she's confident in her defense behind her. I pitched her a lot last year, but I don't feel that need where I have to throw her in every game."

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She isn't just effective on the mound. She's also a natural shortshop.

"If she's not on the mound, she's at shortstop, and we know she's going to cover everything at shortstop too," Ball said. "She's gonna make plays. We're confident wherever she goes."

In for the long haul

Since the moment Mooresville walked off the diamond on May 26, 2021, having been defeated in the sectional championship, they've had one goal in mind.

Beat Center Grove.

The Trojans used the final inning to boost a 2-1 lead to a 5-1 victory, taking home the sectional championship. This season the Pioneers play Center Grove in the first round. They'll be seeking their revenge.

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"Our APC coach wrote Center Grove on the wall in the weight room," Cooper said. "I look at that every single day knowing what happened last year. It pushes me so much. It would be so amazing to beat whatever is going on and just win a sectional."

Trophies or not, Cooper is in for the long haul. Softball is everything to her and she's willing to take it as far as she can go.

“This sport has really become my life," Cooper said. "Every time I come here, it makes me happy, being on the field. I just want to end it with a positive.”

Contact reporter Devin Voss at dvoss@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter at @DevinVoss23.

This article originally appeared on The Reporter Times: She's only a junior: Just how good is Mooresville ace Alex Cooper?