As an 11-year-old, B.B. Bates sat in the stands at Easton Stadium to witness her first collegiate softball game and watch future Olympic gold medalist Natasha Watley play shortstop for the Bruins. Right then and there, Bates knew that she wanted to play softball for UCLA.
She even attempted to pattern her game after Watley’s, which included a failed attempt at playing shortstop in high school. But now, 11 years later, the senior outfielder is wrapping up the achievement of her dream.
“To be able to actually say that and actually be here, it’s a blessing,” Bates said. “It was the biggest goal of my life to come here, and I did it.”
While living out her dream, she was able to put her name in the UCLA record books.
Bates entered the season with 30 career home runs and a career high of 48 runs batted in for a single season.
She then proceeded to post the second-best single-season numbers in UCLA history for home runs and RBIs this season by hitting 25 homers and knocking in 74 runs.
Bates also led the team in batting average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, runs scored, doubles, multi-hit games, multi-RBI games and total bases.
“If you really look at B.B. closely from her freshman year to her senior year, every year she got better,” said coach Kelly Inouye-Perez. “Every year her numbers got better.”
For her career, Bates is tied for third all-time in UCLA history for homers, fourth for RBI, tied for fourth in total bases, and fifth in slugging percentage and runs scored.
“This is a D-1 school and to be able to be in UCLA history, it’s a great honor,” Bates said.
Her performance racked up some hardware as she was named a Second Team National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-American and earned First Team NFCA All-West Region and All-Pac-12 accolades. At the team’s end of the season award banquet, she was named the team MVP and Co-Offensive MVP.
Despite Bates’ success this season, the Bruins, for the third straight year, were unable to advance to the College World Series.
“My plan this year was I can take them there, because I’ve been there,” Bates said. “Consistency kicked us in the butt, but of course we wanted to go back, I believed that we were going to go back. It just didn’t happen that way.”
In Bates’ freshman year in 2010, the Bruins went to the College World Series and she played a key role in helping them win the national championship.
“When I was there, I forgot it was a TV game. I didn’t think about it as being the College World Series, I just thought it was like a fun tournament,” Bates said. “(The older players) didn’t make it seem bigger for the freshmen or anybody else.”
Bates and the only other senior on the team, outfielder Devon Lindvall, tried to use their championship experience to help teach the team’s 15 underclassmen what it takes to reach that stage.
“(We) were able to lead because we were the only ones who knew what it takes to get to Oklahoma,” Lindvall said. “We’ve been able to experience it and we did our best to try and get the program back to that place that we were in 2010.”
Bates said she gained the confidence to be a leader this season and enjoys being a role model and mentor for the younger players.
“She’s a very vocal leader and she also leads by example,” Lindvall said. “The girl knows how to execute on the field and she knows how to motivate. When she speaks, people listen.”
Of all of Bates’ skills, Inouye-Perez said that she would miss Bates’ leadership the most next season due to her ability to instill confidence in the underclassmen.
“We had a lot of adversity throughout the season with injuries and different people in and out of the lineup and B.B. was a mainstay with the leadership being able to keep everyone focused on heading the right direction,” Inouye-Perez said.
After having time to reflect on the season since their loss in the NCAA Regionals, Bates was disappointed with failing to reach the College World Series, but likes the team’s chances for next year.
“Maybe it just wasn’t meant to be right now,” Bates said. “I want them to go there, because it’s a lot of fun. That’s where the Bruins perform, and I think they’re going to get there next year.”
With her UCLA career wrapped up, she will now tryout for the U.S. Women’s National Team, and will spend the summer working with her two younger brothers, who have committed to USC, on their hitting mechanics.
Like Watley and others before her, Bates is now the one inspiring the young girls sitting in the bleachers to follow their dreams.
“If you put in the hard work,” Bates said, “anything can happen.”