Jocelyn Briski's battle through mother's cancer diagnosis and injury made her Alabama's ace

TL;DR

Jocelyn Briski has emerged as Alabama's ace in softball, overcoming her mother's cancer diagnosis and her own injury. She was named SEC Pitcher of the Year and is a finalist for USA Softball Player of the Year.

Key points

Jocelyn Briski is Alabama's ace pitcher.
She was named SEC Pitcher of the Year.
Briski is a top-25 finalist for USA Softball Player of the Year.
She overcame her mother's cancer diagnosis and her own injury.
Briski enjoys pressure situations in games.

Jocelyn BriskiAlabama softballSECUSA Softball Player of the Year

Jocelyn Briski has always liked having the ball in her hand.

In the Alabama softball circle, there is nowhere to hide. Every pitch starts with her. The momentum of the game runs through her hand, extends to her fingertips and whooshes through the throw before it reaches anyone else. It is part of what drew Briski to pitching in the first place.

She likes being in control. She likes being relied upon. She likes knowing that, for half the game, the responsibility belongs to her.

"I like the pressure situations," Briski told The Tuscaloosa News. "I liked everyone having to rely on me."

But long before Briski was unanimously named SEC Pitcher of the Year by the USA TODAY Sports Network and a top-25 USA Softball Player of the Year finalist in her comeback junior season, life taught the player from Phoenix that control can disappear quickly. Sometimes, no amount of preparation can stop it. Sometimes, the only thing she can control is how she responds.

That lesson came hardest when Briski was a high school sophomore.

'My mom actually has cancer'

In November 2020, as COVID-19 continued to reshape everyday life, Jocelyn's mother, Melissa, was diagnosed with Stage II breast cancer. A contained treatment plan became more aggressive after doctors found the cancer had reached four lymph nodes.

The timing made an already frightening diagnosis even more isolating. Melissa was going through chemotherapy before COVID-19 vaccines were readily available. Their normal suddenly became possibly life-threatening. Jocelyn going to school and playing softball, as she had for five years, could mean compromising her mother's immune system.

The family made a painful decision. For Jocelyn and her younger sister (and now-Alabama softball commit) Ava, to keep living some version of a normal life, they had to live away from home.