Outfielder Bella Dayton brings senior seasoning to young Texas softball team

On a softball squad full of young talent, everyone has a role for No. 1 Texas.

Sophomore catcher Reese Atwood provides the pop with her team-high 13 home runs and 61 RBIs, which is just five short of the single-season school record held by Lindsey Stephens (2014) and Taylor Thom (2013). Freshman centerfielder Kayden Henry brings the speed with a team-high 19 stolen bases on 22 attempts. Sophomore shortstop Vivi Martinez and senior second baseman Alyssa Washington anchor the heart of the defense, freshman pitcher Teagan Kavan leads the team in wins and strikeouts, and junior third baseman Mia Scott does a little bit of everything with a team-best .493 on-base percentage, a team-high 43 runs and 30 RBIs.

So where does that leave Bella Dayton, a fifth-senior outfielder who has started 131 games over the past three seasons since transferring in from Arizona?

“Oh, she can do it all,” said coach Mike White, whose team travels to Kansas this weekend. “She steals bases, she takes walks because she’s got a pretty good eye, and she’s got some power in her bag.”

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Leading from the outfield, in the dugout

Best of all, she helps keep things tranquil in the dugout and in the outfield, which she usually shares with Henry and redshirt sophomore Ashton Maloney.

“She definitely has kind of a calming influence on the outfield,” White said. “She’s taken our freshmen and young players under her wing and has just helped guide them through the whole process.”

Dayton wants that process to end at the College World Series, which she starred in as a sophomore for the Longhorns. But to reach the CWS, Texas (35-6, 14-4 Big 12) has to keep playing with the same intensity and consistency that has them atop every college softball poll, Dayton said.

“I'm just taking in the moment and playing where my feet are,” she said, borrowing a catch-phrase from Texas basketball coach Rodney Terry. “It's great to be No. 1, but it doesn't play the game for us. It doesn't come out and play ball. Right now, we're focused on playing our game every day. We’ve got to keep setting the standard for ourselves and keep pushing.”

Mental approach key for Dayton as Texas tries to meet expectations

That mentality matters as much as Dayton’s .366 batting average, a .486 on-base percentage and a .74 runs-per-game average, which are all career highs. Her coach and teammates say Dayton’s leadership on the field and in the locker room goes behind such stats, especially for a team trying to lock down one of the top eight seeds in next month’s NCAA Tournament, which would guarantee that the Longhorns would play all tournament games on their home field before the CWS.

“Bella is definitely one of the really key players on this team,” Atwood said. “She's been to the World Series, she's competed against the best, and she's been in pretty much every situation playing in her fifth year. So it's really important to have her on this squad, to be able to learn from her and take notes. She's been there and I haven't, so I think that's something like really important for us young players to see and listen to.”

It’s especially important for a team like Texas. Six of the 10 Longhorns with at least 50 at-bats are only freshmen or sophomores. So are two of the squad’s top four pitchers.

But these young Longhorns don’t look green on the field, Dayton said.

“You know, a lot of freshmen — personally speaking from when I was a freshman — come in not knowing how the team is ran or understanding the environment that you're in,” she said. “But I think our freshmen have done a great job of really understanding the roles that they're in and just how we play the game.”

This weekend’s series

No. 1 Texas (35-6, 14-4) vs. Kansas (27-14-1, 11-7), Arrocha Ballpark, Lawrence, Kan., 5 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday, noon Sunday. All games on ESPN+.