Allen's Growth Not All in Her Numbers
Freedom to be herself benefits Rams across the board
Mike Brohard
Free.
That’s what Jen Fisher sees in Peyton Allen. In the batter’s box and in the field. It’s the personality, too. Allen’s willingness to be vocal with her teammates is incredible, though Fisher may not be as big of a fan when Allen turns her attention to the opposing team.
Give and take.
“She doesn’t know she’s small,” Fisher said of her senior second baseman. “She is big in every realm except for how tall she is.”
That’s Allen -- the Rams’ 5-foot-3 slugger with a 6-8 personality.
“Fisher probably regrets putting the other team on the first-base side with me and Nelly (Danielle Serna) just because we’ll be the first to go to bat for this team,” Allen said. “Nelly got a warning this weekend. We both almost got one at UNLV. We hear something, and we’re immediately chirping back. Fisher kind of gets mad at me because I do chirp, but I always tell her I’ll never start it, but if I hear something I don’t like, I’ll make sure I’ll finish that.”
To get to this point, Allen had to free up on herself, and her transformative journey has been a rollercoaster which at times has been more on the way up than she realizes. She’s always been hard on herself, and she still is, but she is able to see the positives more so these days.
Most of the time. In this past weekend’s three-game sweep of Fresno State – outcomes which put the Rams in third instead of the Bulldogs – Allen felt she could have played better. It was a series in which she had a hit in every game.
That fact evaded her. As did the point she had started 128 consecutive games for Colorado State. Or that she’s reached base safely in all 18 Mountain West games this season, 14 of them via a hit.
When your career begins as a walk-on and the main drive is to prove yourself each and every day, that focus never exits.
“I clearly have not paid attention to much. It’s gone by so fast,” Allen said, laughing. “I’m just grateful all the time. Since I was committed to Portland State and that fell apart October my senior year, and now I have no DI options. You shouldn’t have the DI-or-bust stigma, but I was like, I’m good enough and I deserve to be there. I’m just thankful Coach Fisher had a spot for me here.”
So is Fisher, who took a recommendation from a friend –Allen’s club coach – who told the CSU leader she’d love the kid. Which she does, and she has since her first season.
To me, I can’t believe sometimes the things that come out of her mouth -- I couldn’t have said it better myself. We’re not giving up. She’s adamant about it and she needs everybody in it right now. Those types of leaders are getting harder and harder to find.Jen Fisher
Allen started in 12 of 16 games as a true freshman, a year cut short but the global pandemic. She started the final four contests that campaign and hasn’t left the lineup since. Along the way, so much has changed.
She was a catcher-second baseman then, but the catcher part fell by the wayside. Now, for Fisher’s money, Allen is the best second baseman in the league.
Allen was hitting at the bottom of the order with no pop at the start, and now she’s a middle-of-the-lineup run producer who is tied for second in the conference with 11 homers. The timid freshman is now the vocal leader, the main drive in the team’s competitive nature and the first player who will stand up for her teammates. The contradiction is the player who at times has struggled believing in her abilities is the first to tell her teammates to lean on their talents.
“She’s just had the heart of a champion the entire run here. She’ll do whatever you ask her to do,” Fisher said. “She’s raised the level of our competitive greatness for sure. I think of her in the weight room, and she’s our strongest kid pound for pound. She loves practice, she’s a leader and she points out everything. She’s everybody’s hype person.
“To me, I can’t believe sometimes the things that come out of her mouth -- I couldn’t have said it better myself. We’re not giving up. She’s adamant about it and she needs everybody in it right now. Those types of leaders are getting harder and harder to find.”
Allen’s role model in that regard was former third baseman Corina Gamboa. For two seasons, she intently watched the way Gamboa went about her business, listened to everything she said and how she said it. The way she worked on her game and how she’d respond to an off day or at-bat. Gamboa was also one of Allen’s biggest supporters and encouragers.
The first was always there for Allen, but she also felt she had to earn her place and her role on the team. That required her to take steps.
The first one came with Serna, as they both made their collegiate debut as the Rams’ battery. The next was facing Michigan that first season, a game where the Rams were locked in a scoreless game for six innings, a contest where the Rams had just four hits and struck out 14 times. Allen had two hits from the nine-hole.
“Carina Gamboa, she was always my biggest hype man, and I looked up to her so much. She was one of the best players I’ve played with,” Allen said. “She just had that drive. She competed every pitch, and she would bounce back after what she thought was a bad game and just kill it. When she gave me the confidence to be yourself, be competitive, after that I felt like it just soared. When she left last year, I was like we have some shoes to fill here.”
Serna said everybody on the team knows what they’re getting in Allen, which is an uplifting teammate. Allen won’t let them quit, and she’s not about to let them get down on themselves. No game is out of reach when Allen is on the field.
“She’s always there for us,” Serna said. “And we’re there for her, too. We game in together, and it’s been great to see her grow these years and be a leader on the team.”
Allen has always brought grit to the table, but in her first three seasons, she hit less than .250, and those first two years she only hit two home runs, both as a sophomore. As a junior, the power started to develop, ripping off nine homers with 14 extra-base hits.
She’d never struck out a lot, nor did she draw a lot of walks until last year. Her 34 strikeouts were just seven more than the year prior (with 34 additional at-bats), but her walk total of 20 was more than double.
This season, her offensive production isn’t just dependent on her ability to clear the fences but get on base and be among the Mountain West leaders in runs scored with 45. It’s a result which ties into her being more in synch with her eye at the plate, leading to more walks (22) than strikeouts (21).
“I don’t really know how she ended up there. She works so hard on her visual skill set, so I think what happened in her junior year she really bought into it,” Fisher said. “When you work on the visual skills, it hones your power. What happens is you’re swinging at good pitches you’re hunting, and you’re getting the barrel precisely on the ball. Good power numbers come from a really good visual skillset and a great mental mindset.
“She’s the one person on the team I can always count on for a hit-and-run. That’s a difficult skill. A lot of people get overanxious and get early, and she’s also the one person on the team who gets the 3-0 green light more than anybody.”
Allen knows the visualization drills have helped her develop a strike zone suited to her. On the screen, the pitch comes, and she has to tap it if she believes it will be a strike. In addition to her power, she’s hitting .284 on the season.
Seeing is believing, but so is trusting, another main component for Allen.
“I know I definitely go deep in counts, and the big adjustment I’ve made is swinging on the first pitch when it’s there. I’m sure that first-pitch-take percentage was off the charts for me because I was like I refuse to.
“I don’t know why. They were telling me all last year, and I was, I don’t know. Coach SJ (Sahvanna Jaquish), she kept telling me you just have to go. You have to have a plan, and if they plate it, you’ve got to attack it. She must have said something that resonated with me because I’m swinging hard on those.”
Funny how that works. A player can hear the message from one source and pass over the information, but when it comes from a new source, it clicks.
Jaquish joined the staff this year. A four-time All-American at LSU, a member of Team USA and a professional softball player, she’s had an acute ability to get Allen to view herself and her game in a different way, both at the plate and in the field.
Jaquish will work with her in the field, and at first, Allen watched in amazement. Once she moved past the awe factor, she started emulating. At the plate, the plan comes from Jaquish’s mentoring.
“She asked me about my approach and how I’m too good of a hitter to do this or that and all the micro adjustments I need to make instead of a massive one. It’s funny, before every game I ask, ‘what advice do you have for the kid?’ and she has something different to say every time,” Allen said. “She loves the game so much and that rubs off on me. College ball is a hard grind, but she shows you how fun it can be if you make it fun.”
Looking back, even if some of the struggles weren’t fun at the moment, they were necessary. She’s not the first player to go from being a vital cog on her summer team to having to find their niche in college.
What never abandoned was her drive to find herself. Part of it was personal, to perform better. All of it was for the betterment of the team, which at times was hard for her to balance mentally.
“Freshman, sophomore year, I had a lot of doubt. Even last year, there was uncertainty with my swing,” she said. “It was a lot of I don’t know. Now I know I’m a good hitter, I’ve seen myself do it and do it since I was 18. I’m more comfortable with my swing this year, so it’s about doing my best every at-bat.
“Mentally, it was just going back to how I used to play and playing free and playing my game. I do just love playing. I love being loud, and I’m sure other teams are like that second baseman is so annoying.”
For Allen, the game has always been fun. That’s always been clear to Fisher, who isn’t sure if she likes the player or the person more, because the personality on the field is so similar to the young lady away from the diamond.
The traits which have made her a successful athlete are what Fisher believe will carry Allen forward in life. Allen will take advantage of her fifth year granted by covid, entering a two-year master’s program in communications and media management, one she plans to complete in one season.
It’s the tenacity of a student Fisher admires, making her the type of player who is not afraid to chirp back.
“We can hear what the other team is saying,” said Serna, the normal first baseman. “Peyton’s probably going to say something first, but I’m going to back her up. We don’t like the other team going after our team.
“She won’t start it, but we’ll definitely finish it”
In some ways, Allen feels like she’s just getting started. There is so much more she sees for her team, and in turn, herself. The pursuit of it all is so much better when you feel freed up to take the next step.