Former Americas star Bri Garcia finally gets chance for UTEP softball, makes the most of it

Bri Garcia's cross-town journey from stardom for the Americas softball team to UTEP seems like it could have been simple.

Two seasons ago she was a star senior middle infielder, a .400 hitter, from one of El Paso's all-time great softball teams, a state qualifier that let Garcia play on the biggest high school stage in Texas.

She was also 5-foot-3, which made it easy to overlook her in the recruiting process. With few options, she ended up at South Mountain Community College in Phoenix, where coach Brittney Mata saw more than Garcia's little frame.

What Mata saw was a player who in a 64-game junior college season end up hitting .442 with 90 runs, 103 hits, 26 doubles, a triple, 29 home runs, 98 RBIs, 28 walks, and 10 stolen bases, that added up to first-team NJCAA All-American honors.

That not only opened doors for Garcia, it opened doors for Mata, who in the offseason joined TJ Hubbard's staff at UTEP. One guess who Mata brought with her.

"It was a dream come true, this was a really cool opportunity to come here," said Garcia, who is hitting .349 as the starting second baseman for the Miners best team in years. She and her Miner teammates head to Florida International this weekend for a three-game series.

"I've been watching UTEP since I was little," Garcia added. "It was exciting for my family, too, being able to play here. I thought I could do it, but I didn't think it was a possibility for me to come here."

That became a possibility because Garcia has succeeded everywhere she's been and eventually that matters. Mata saw the potential in her and she learned what she was also getting at South Mountain, and now at UTEP, is a player willing to put in the hours to maximize her potential.

"She's hard-working," Mata said. "Her size might deter people from her a little bit, she's small. But she's gritty, she's determined, she's hard working. She puts in the work, she flies around the middle infield. The combination of the two: She can pick the ball a little bit and work hard.

"She's gotten a lot better for us really quickly."

Having said that, Mata said she knew the numbers Garcia is putting up now was always within her.

"She has a lot of the same tendencies she had in high school: She throws the ball really well, she doesn't let a lot by her," Mata said. "A lot of those things stayed the same, but she put in a lot of work. She's around like-minded individuals, that helps day-in, day-out to get her better.

"Out of high school I knew she could do it, she just had to play in the games. Being able to play 64 games at the junior college level helped her a ton to have the experience she needed to go into this season."

Having said that, Garcia, who at one point didn't think it would be possible to play for UTEP, also didn't know the transition to Division I would come this easily.

"Coming off of how I did last year at (South Mountain), I had high expectations from myself," Garcia said. "But at a higher level, I didn't think it would be such a smooth transition. I've been trying to adapt to this new level. It's been smooth.

"It's been a lot of fun, a lot of learning from last year and seeing how we can improve more each series. We're learning from each other."

Garcia also attacked the weight room. She's never going to be large and she's always going to be 5-3, but she has added some muscle and that's showed up with the power numbers she put up in junior college. She's also added two home runs in UTEP's 18-11 start to this season.

"I've always been a base hit hitter, then when I started hitting home runs as much as I did … I guess it was all the work I put in over the offseason paid off," Garcia said. "It's confidence and just having fun. I'm having a lot of fun."

Garcia's arrival at UTEP has brought plenty of fun, which always seems to happen for a player short of stature who has always produced big results when given the chance.

Bret Bloomquist can be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Former Americas star Bri Garcia finally gets chance for UTEP softball