Arlette Caravaca arrived at Western after a solid start to her high school softball career at Cooper City.
But the junior outfielder grew into one of South Florida’s top hitters as a junior at Western, quickly establishing herself as a dangerous hitter in the Wildcats’ lineup. She is the Sun Sentinel’s Broward County Class 7A-6A player of the year.
As a sophomore last season, she hit .395 with one home run and a 1.035 OPS. This season, she improved to a .438 batting average with five home runs and a 1.206 OPS. She struck out only four times all season.
“I think what really improved was my hitting,” Caravaca said. “It got tremendously better than my previous years. i was just seeing the ball better and (had) less strikeouts.”
Caravaca said beating eventual state semifinalist Doral Academy was a highlight of her season. She went 3 for 4 in the game with a double and an RBI as Western won 7-6. Jade Castillo, a second-team All-County pick, won the game with a walk-off, three-run homer.
“It was just overwhelming because it was two strikes, two outs and we needed three runs to win,” Caravaca said. “When my friend, Jade Castillo, hit the ball over, it was super exciting. It was really special, as a team, especially since I’m new.”
Caravaca is planning to travel to Big Ten country for college, as she is committed to Iowa.
“It’s a very cool atmosphere,” I can’t explain it. They don’t have any professional sports team over there, so everything is highly focused on the college sports. So they have so (many) supporters. The town is just amazing, especially on game day. I love it there. I’m going to be very happy spending four years there.”
After her excellent junior year, Caravaca has even loftier goals for herself at the plate. She said one goal she has is to raise her batting average by more than 100 points.
“I definitely want to try hitting above .550,” she said.
