- April 25, 2024
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As a sophomore, Britnee Dowd has already established herself as the Seabreeze softball team's best pitcher.
BY MATT MENCARINI | STAFF WRITER
When you step into the batter’s box against Britnee Dowd, the first pitch you see will set the tone for the rest of your at-bat. She’s testing you, to find exactly where she can exploit you.
The first pitch will likely to be on the outside, so she can see your swing and find its holes. From there, she knows which of her pitches -- curveball, screwball, fastball or changeup -- she can use to get you out.
Dowd, a sophomore on the Seabreeze softball team, is not only is the team’s ace pitcher, starting nearly every game, but she’s also its No. 3 hitter.
She’s a stoic presence on the mound who shows virtually no emotion, no matter if it's a strikeout or a walk. But in her head, she says, it's much different.
"Everyone says I'm a calm pitcher," Dowd said. "But out there ... I try to stay calm just to make sure I don't get myself rattled up or wild."
Dowd and her batterymate, catcher Taylor Lee, are still only sophomores, but head coach Tarisa Grimm doesn’t call pitches. She says she trusts both players.
In a recent matchup against Mainland, Dowd pitched the Sandcrabs to a 10-0 win, in a game shortened by a mercy rule. She also scored and drove in runners.
But there were points in the game when the Buccaneers threatened to score, like in the second inning, when there were runners on second and third.
“I knew I couldn’t throw it over the plate,” Dowd said. "So I did my best to stay inside and out. But, again, I knew my team was behind me, helping me."
Dowd got a Mainland batter to strike out, ending the inning.
“She can get intense,” Grimm said. “But she's very calm. Even though in her head she's doing it by herself, she’s calm and she's doing her thing.”
Dowd said she started playing softball five years ago, when her dad encouraged her to give the sport a chance. She said she was hesitant, but quickly realized she was good — so good, in fact, that Grimm started her against DeLand as a freshman.
“That’s always a tough, tough game for us,” Grimm said. “Eight out of 10 (games) they beat us.”
Seabreeze won that game, and for Grimm, it was the moment she realized what type of player she had. Dowd, her coach says, is a “natural.”
Some pitchers will stare down batters, for intimidation or out of intensity. But for Dowd, it’s a calm, relaxed, almost nonchalant look, as she’s casually racking up strikeouts.
The batters just happen to be there, and Dowd doesn’t appear to give them much thought. She’s just throwing to her catcher.
And for a while, her demeanor was tough for Grimm to read. She says there was a time she had difficulty knowing when to visit the mound or give Dowd some extra encouragement or coaching.
“But now that I know her, I kind of know," Grimm said. "When she has emotion is when she kind of gets down on herself. When she’s stoic and battling ... that’s when you know she’s OK. ... And you just let her go.”
