FRUITPORT – The amazing part about Brooklyn Russell’s season is that she was not even supposed to be Fruitport’s top pitcher.

That job belonged to senior Kadence Springstead, and Russell was supposed to pick up the slack.

Unfortunately Springstead has been haunted by an ankle injury that first occurred during the basketball season, then was aggravated while she was pitching in a game this spring.

With Springstead out of the lineup, Russell was suddenly the ace of the staff, with little in the way of pitching depth behind her.

So she’s been throwing a ton of innings since midseason, a tall order for a very small sophomore who has never challenged her pitching arm like she has this spring.

The good news is that Russell has been more than up to the task of being the Trojans’ workhorse.

She has pitched a pretty amazing 95 innings this season and has been very good, posting 71 strikeouts and a very respectable 3.97 earned run average.

Russell’s pitching has been one major factor behind Fruitport’s turnaround on the softball field. After an ugly 2-9 start, the Trojans have won 8 of their past 11 games heading into the most important part of the season,

Russell admits she was a little nervous when she became her team’s primary pitcher, but says that didn’t last long. She says her team’s vastly improved defense has given her extra confidence when facing hitters.

“I was a little nervous the first time I had to pitch both games (of a doubleheader), but once we got into the games and started having fun, and the defense had my back, I was good, just playing the game I love,” she said.

Russell probably had her best night in the pitching circle in a doubleheader last week against Greenville, when she worked all seven innings of both games. She struck out 11 with no walks in the opener, then struck out eight with no walks in Game 2, helping the Trojans complete a sweep.

“Our team came in and had a lot of energy that night, we all had each other’s backs, the defense was on point all night and all my teammates were hyping me up,” she said. “I didn’t want to stop!”

Fruitport head coach Bob Dorman knew what Russell was capable of, so he’s not stunned that she is performing so well.

“Every time out there she’s doing better and better,” he said. “Brooklyn did well last year, so I am not shocked that she’s doing that good. I give her full credit, she spent the whole last year in the weight room, and she would be the first to tell you that she feels so much stronger because of it.”

Russell has also contributed offensively, hitting .344 with one home run and 16 RBIs. She’s been one of the top hitters in the Trojan lineup, along with teammates like Olive Staal (.444 average), Ash Olson (.390) and Teagan Schultz (.343).

Russell started the season in a terrible slump, with a lot of strikeouts and relatively few hits. That prompted Dorman to move her from third to sixth in the batting order, which apparently made a big difference.

“She wasn’t happy batting sixth,” Dorman said. “She wanted to be closer to the top of the lineup, but we’re playing better with this lineup.”

Dorman said teams aren’t quite as worried about batters who hit sixth, so Russell is getting some better pitches to look at.

“She’s seeing better pitches and she’s been aggressive with every swing,” he said.

Russell, who is only 5 feet, 2 inches tall, says opponents sometimes underestimate her because of her size, and she uses that to her advantage.

“When I go to hit, because I’m so short, teams tell their infielders to move in because I probably won’t hit it that far,” she said. “I’ve also heard people say short people can’t be pitchers. Honestly, that adds fuel to the fire and makes me want to work harder.”

Russell said she and her teammates are having a great time winning a lot of games after such a rough start to the season.

Besides last week’s sweep of Greenville, Fruitport’s recent hot streak has included a single win over a good Holton squad, a sweep of North Muskegon, a win over rival Spring Lake, and a big upset of Reeths-Puffer in the GMAA city tournament.

“It’s really exciting,” Russell said. “I feel like our team chemistry has improved a lot. We’re getting comfortable with each other and becoming best friends. We had a lot of freshmen come in at the beginning of the season but now we’re all getting to know each other better.

“I am really excited about districts. We have really improved a lot and it’s a really good feeling. All of our hard work is paying off.”