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To get to the NCAA softball tournament for the first time, ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ University had to win four games in a row over two days to win the Atlantic 10 tournament and get the berth. Based on all that happened leading up to that, most notably a 15-game winning streak that lifted SLU to second place in the conference, coach Christy Connoyer said she felt confident as her team began a string of do-or-die games, all of which it ended up winning by one run.

And nothing boosted that confidence like having SLU catcher Abby Mallo finding her way to the plate time after time with the season on the line.

“That helps,� Connoyer said with a smirk.

Bottom of the fifth in Game 1 on the final day, SLU down 1-0, runner on first, two outs, Mallo comes to the plate. Bottom of the fifth of Game 2, SLU down 1-0, bases loaded, two outs, Mallo comes to the plate. Bases loaded, bottom of the seventh of Game 2, score tied — and there she is again.

The individual outcomes:

• Home run to put SLU up 2-1.
• Bases-clearing double to put SLU up 3-1.
• Hard-hit grounder to short that drives in the winning run as SLU wins 4-3.

The overall outcome: SLU goes to the NCAA tournament. Six of the seven runs in SLU’s two wins on that final day were driven in by Mallo.

“It feels like a magnet,� said Mallo of the game pulling her to the plate in critical moments. “Everyone feels those big moments, but I was just excited to have the opportunity to perform. It was awesome. It was amazing. It was the most rewarding moment of softball I’ve ever had.�

SLU begins play in the NCAA tournament at 5:30 p.m. Friday against regional host Arkansas in the double-elimination tournament in Fayetteville. Win or lose in that game, SLU will play again on Saturday against either Indiana or Oklahoma State, the other two teams in the region.

Connoyer couldn’t ask for a better player for the game to find than Mallo. The junior from Oak Lawn, Illinois, has a school record 80 runs batted in this season, obliterating the record she previously set of 54 last season. She is 18th nationally in total bases (a school-record 136), tied for 19th in home runs with a school-record 19. She leads SLU in batting (.368), hits (64), doubles (13) and slugging percentage (.782). She also has thrown out 13 runners trying to steal and was named second-team all-Midwest on Thursday.

“She’s a high-energy player,� Connoyer said. “She’s a high-energy teammate. When she gets into the box, what’s been really special about her this year, the game slows down. She’s high-strung. You see her launching the bat, you see the excitement when she’s in that box. You can see it more this year. Freshman year, stellar year. Sophomore year, very good year. She’s continued to grow this year. The mental side of the game, she slows it down. Where Mallo is clutch, or where she’s special this year, is how she slows the game down mentally. To know that she’s going to lay off pitches that she used to jump at. ‘I’m going to let them work around me. I’m the threat,’ and embraces that — not pressure, privilege. And she’s embraced it.�

“It’s been really, really fun,� Mallo said. “I think this year I’ve had a great opportunity at a lot of things. This team pushes me to be the best version of myself, and I think that came out while I was playing, but it also comes out in my everyday life. So I’m just lucky to be on this team and be given the opportunities that I’ve had.

“I definitely was excited about a couple of the records, but the RBIs don’t happen without everyone else. Home runs are very exciting. I think it’s my favorite part of softball, hitting and celebrating a home run and looking at my teammates celebrating me. It’s my favorite part of softball. So that was a huge one for me.�

In addition to being the best hitter on SLU (she was named the A-10’s co-player of the year) while playing the most demanding position, she’s also a big deal in the classroom. Mallo is majoring in biomedical engineering. In addition to playing softball, she’s working in a tissue engineering lab at SLU.

“Growing up, I was really good at math and science, of course,� she said, “but actually, one of my best friends got Type 1 diabetes when I was 10, and I wasn’t sure what that was. And it felt scary, and it felt like his life was going to change, my life was going to change. So growing up knowing that and just seeing what developments in medicine have done for families and people, I’ve always been interested in it.

“It could be prosthetics. It could be tissue engineering. It could be medical instrumentation. You see a lot of MRIs, imaging, drug delivery. That all falls within the within the scope of biomedical engineering.�

Connoyer just marvels at the package Mallo is.

“She caught every single game,� she said. “She got hit by a pitch, then she slid into second and got nailed, then a couple foul tips she took. She took a lot. So she’s juggling her academics, and again, exceptional, she made all-academic A-10. Biomedical engineer, manages our pitchers’ personality, the connection between her and Taylor (Hochman) and her and Bel (Royle), you can see times where they walk out, they call time. That’s not one with our pitching coach, Maxine Rodriguez — a lot of times they call it on their own. ...

“She’s got a way to work with her teammates. She embraces it. She knows she is not who she is without them. Humble, extremely humble for as loud of a player, extremely humble. She balances all that very well. And it’s not easy. It’s not easy to everyone and all of us, we have our moments, but she has learned to slow it down, take a deep breath and stay in the moment that she’s in.�

Even when the stakes are the highest.