Gamecocks softball’s Kaylea Snaer doubles way into record books

A softball player isn’t going hunting for a doubles record.

Few players admit they’re chasing a mark at all, but if they are, batting average, home runs, strikeouts are more likely. A double is a little mundane, just the product of workmanlike approach: smash line drives to the wall, don’t get under pitches, don’t necessarily break like a sprinter chasing a triple.

And that’s how South Carolina’s Kaylea Snaer smacked her 24th double of the season earlier this week. With it, she’d hit more than any other player in SEC history.

“I keep telling them I have warning-track power this year,” Snaer said. “It’s just kind of a running joke that we have.”

Georgia’s Megan Wiggins and Tennessee’s Kelli Fitzgerald shared the old mark at 23.

Snaer’s roommate Victoria Williams has fun with it, jumping in her face and shouting “That’s my roommate!” after big hits.

“It’s funny because Kaylea always said, people thought she was going to be this big home run hitter, have 20 home runs in a season,” Williams said. “But she always said she’s going to beat the wall down by hitting doubles. I don’t ever think that she meant to set this record honestly, it’s just the kind of hitter she is. It’s what her swing was made for.”

The barrage of two-baggers has been part of a bounceback junior season for Snaer. She dislocated her elbow late in a strong freshman season and rushed back for the final few games.

Looking back she said it affected her the following summer and fall, and might have played a role in her slugging percentage and on-base percentage.

With five home runs, she’s short of her total from each of her first two years, but she more than doubled her total for career doubles this season.

Snaer didn’t grow up in the SEC footprint. She grew up in the large metro area outside Los Angeles in California. That area has a strong softball culture, but she wanted something different, wanted to play in the premier conference for the sport nationally and experience a different culture.

She caught the Gamecocks coaching staff’s eyes because of a connection.

“Kaylea really was a blue-chip recruit for us,” South Carolina coach Beverly Smith said. “She came from a high-level travel organization. So we always knew Kaylea was going to be somebody who came in and impacted South Carolina softball.”

It didn’t hurt Snaer’s decision process that South Carolina shared one key attribute: a lack of cold weather.

Her team has faced a rough go of late. After at 19-2 start, the Gamecocks have gone 14-14 since with a 5-13 record in the SEC.

They’re heading into the final home series of the year starting Friday, against a powerhouse Alabama team that has played in the past two college world series. Beyond that is a trip to Missouri and the postseason.

The national doubles record sits only five away. Snaer bounced back at the plate and set her mark just doing what she does. No one chases doubles, they just take solid swings and see what comes.

“I think as a player you never expect, I’m going to break the doubles record,” Snaer said. “I’m not going up there trying to hit doubles honestly. It’s just something that kind of happened.

“It’s really a surprise to me if I’m just being honest.”

This story was originally published April 28, 2016 at 9:46 PM with the headline "Gamecocks softball’s Kaylea Snaer doubles way into record books."