When Kasey Cooper came to Auburn last year after a dominant high school career at Dothan High School, she probably didn't realize the impact she would have on the team in the upcoming season.
Cooper was named the 2013 Alabama Gatorade Player of the Year along with being named to Alabama Super All-State Team and the MaxPreps All-American Team.
Her high school stats were a batting average of .569 and 22 home runs in her senior high school season.
In her first year on the Plains, Cooper broke Auburn's single-season home run record, blasting 18 homers.
Dothan High School head coach Patricia Bell expected big performances from her former star player.
"(Kasey's) mindset was always to put in the hours to play at the top of her game," Bell said. "Whatever it took to make the team better was her approach to the game."
Cooper finished her freshman season with a .418 batting average with 77 RBIs and 70 runs scored.
Cooper's record-breaking year didn't go unnoticed, as she was awarded the National Fastpitch Coaches' Association Freshman of the Year Award.
Auburn head coach Clint Myers said he believes the award was given to the right player.
"I'm extremely proud of a deserving young lady," Myers said. "We're excited that she is able to represent Auburn in such a great way and she had such a wonderful season that we're happy to see her hard work pay off."
While breaking records and garnering national attention can inflate egos, Cooper remains humble about her success.
"It's a humbling experience knowing people think I am a pretty good ball player," Cooper said. "Just seeing the girls that I'm up against who dominated and were in the Top-25 and Top-10 makes it a great experience."
The power-hitting Cooper firmly believes the batter shouldn't focus on hitting home runs.
"We don't focus on home runs," Cooper said. "That was one of the focuses, was having quality at-bat because quality at-bat leads to a good swing, then a good swing leads to line drives and then home runs."
Cooper expects big things from Auburn next season. Until then, she'll be preparing herself for another title run.
"We had a great run and we're going to use everything we did this year for next year," Cooper said. "We're going to push to be that much better next year because we know what it takes."
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