Former Carlmont standout Trierweiler is WCC’s batting queen for Santa Clara University

Transitioning to the NCAA Division I ranks at Santa Clara University has been more of the same, with the sweet-swinging leadoff hitter getting on base at a ridiculous rate.

Because of the COVID-19 shutdowns of 2020, Trierweiler has now played two freshman seasons. And because of this, she will now have the distinction of leading the West Coast Conference in hitting as a freshman, after completing the 2021 season with a mind-blowing .481 batting average.

“It’s awesome to accomplish that but it’s not the primary reason I’m here,” Trierweiler said.

While the WCC officially wraps up this weekend — Santa Clara has a bye week, and completed play Saturday, May 8 — it is a practical impossibility for anyone to catch Trierweiler on the leaderboard. Brigham Young freshman Violet Zavodnik ranks second in the conference with a .426 mark.

Heading into weekend play, Trierweiler is tied for the third best batting average in the nation, trailing only Kentucky junior Kayla Kawalik (.505) and Oklahoma freshman Jayda Coleman (.500). Trierweiler is tied for third in the nation with Oklahoma senior Jocelyn Alo, who has 62 hits in 129 at-bats. Because of Santa Clara’s streamlined schedule in 2021 due to pandemic, Trierweiler has had fewer at-bats, going 37 for 77 through 28 games.

Santa Clara head coach Gina Carbonatto said Trierweiler’s consistently exceptional approach would have translated over a full 50-game season though.

“She was pretty even keel,” Carbonatto said. “There wasn’t really ever in a slump. … She really did hit in the .500 range all season long, which is really hard to do.”

The left-handed swinging Trierweiler tends to make it look easy though. Even in her first actual season at Santa Clara in 2020, serving as the team’s No. 2 hitter before senior Eleni Spirakis, Trierweiler paced the Broncos with a .409 average. Then, after the pandemic closures, she did what great hitters do — she went to work refining her swing.

Having played travel softball throughout her high school career — predominantly with the Nor Cal Blast until transitioning to Universal Fast Pitch in Martinez the year she graduated — it had been years since she worked with her parents, Vic and Jamie, on her softball skills on a daily basis. But sheltering in place at her Belmont home allowed them to retreat to Carlmont several times a week to work mainly on hitting drills.

The results were evident when she moved into the leadoff spot for the Broncos in their Feb. 21 season opener at Stanford.

“She started off so dang strong that it hadn’t really looked like she skipped a beat from when we left in March from the year before,” Carbonatto said. “But that’s attributing a ton to her work ethic and her athleticism.”

The difficult part for Trierweiler was making the decision to return to the team in 2021. Through the 2020 season, she hadn’t yet moved to Santa Clara, choosing instead to commute from her Belmont home on a daily basis.

This wasn’t an option in returning to the diamond in 2021, however, as the Santa Clara County guidelines didn’t allow her to live in a different county while also mixing with teammates. So, for the first time in her life, Trierweiler struck out on her own, moving into an apartment close to the Santa Clara campus with a softball teammate.

“I’m really glad I made that decision because even though we had a lot of protocols we had to follow, it was still a really fun season,” Trierweiler said.

Fun is something Trierweiler certainly personifies on the field, if your idea of fun is a stoic game face and a hyper-intensity to compete. She also looks for every opportunity to win the game within the game on the field.

Carbonatto said one of her favorite memories of the 2021 season was when Trierweiler stretched a single into a double against Brigham Young. Trierweiler lined what looked to be a routine single to left-center field, which the Brigham Young outfielder was a little too leisurely in retrieving. So, Trierweiler rounded first and dashed for second to manufacture a double.

“She’s up there with just pure fight, grit, and competes and never gives up on an opportunity to take advantage of a situation,” Carbonatto said. “So, when opportunities arise, she’s ready for them.

“That’s really hard because it’s playing hard when hard isn’t necessary,” she said.

While the play didn’t go down as a stolen base, Trierweiler didn’t need any more swipes to pad her stats. She totaled 18 steals in 2021, currently tops in the WCC. She also currently leads the conference with a .560 on-base percentage.

But that’s not the primary reason she plays the game — Trierweiler’s own words.

“I just like to compete,” Trierweiler said. “I like to play the game. It’s something that I’ve loved since I was little. So, being able to compete at a high level and have fun doing it, I love my teammates and getting to know them through the game. It has been one of my favorite experiences so far.”