Chelsea Bramlett

Classroom

Bramlett was named an ESPN The Magazine/Collegiate Sports Information Directors of America first team Academic All-American in 2008 and a second-team honoree in 2009. Bramlett earned ESPN The Magazine First Team Academic All-District for the third-consecutive season in 2010, putting her in the running for a third Academic All-America award. Bramlett has been selected to the Southeastern Conference Academic Honor Roll her junior and sophomore seasons after being selected to the Southeastern Conference Freshman Academic Honor Roll in 2007. She has been named National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-America Scholar-Athlete twice in her career.

Character

Bramlett is the type of player who leads not only vocally, but through her actions as well. Each day she puts in extra work in the batting cage and on the practice field. “Chelsea has an outstanding work ethic. She never lets up in games or in practice. She’s always giving 100 percent,” Mississippi State head coach Jay Miller said. “She doesn’t coast and brings a great leadership to not only our team, but our pitching staff as well.” Bramlett works with the Bulldog pitching staff on a daily basis, helping develop the hurlers while calling all of the signals during games. “Handling the pitching staff as the catcher is difficult with all of the different personalities and egos involved, but Chelsea does a great job in developing the staff,” said Coach Miller. That effort on the field also continues off the field. She coaches youth players in the summer in addition to her work with Mississippi State’s winter and summer softball camps.

Community

Whether it be handing out food, spending time with school children, or helping maintain the Mississippi State campus’ beauty, Bramlett has been very active in community service activities during her four years in Starkville. Even with all of the hours she has to devote to softball practices, games, and academics, she still makes a point to devote some of her time to helping others on campus and in the community. An active member of the Mississippi State M-Club student-athlete service organization, she showed her school pride by painting paw prints along roads on the MSU campus. She also worked the University’s annual Halloween Carnival, taking time during fall practice to sign autographs and hand out candy to children in the community. Over the holidays, Bramlett helped make some Starkville residents’ Thanksgiving special by delivering bags of food to their homes. She also helped decorate trees for Starkville’s annual Festival of Trees, an event that raises money for the United Way. Bramlett took to heart the feeling of homesickness that the troops in Iraq must feel. She decided to help bring a little bit of home to some Mississippi State fans stationed there by sending them DVDs of the Bulldogs’ home football games. The Cordova, Tennessee, native also lends her time to mentoring youth softball players during MSU’s winter and summer softball camps. Throughout the year, she will also take time out of her busy schedule to go to local elementary schools. There she spends her time with the children, reading books to them as part of Bully’s Book Blitz initiative.

Competition

Bramlett has enjoyed an award-winning career during her time at Mississippi State, receiving numerous accolades while setting nearly every single-season and career offensive record. Twice she has been selected to play alongside the best in the world as part of the United States National Team. She was selected for the 2010 United States squad that will play in the International Softball Federation World Championships this summer. The selection comes a year after she helped lead the Red, White and Blue to gold medals at the Canada Cup, KFC World Cup of Softball, and the Japan Cup.

Arguably one of the top players in school, SEC, and NCAA history, Bramlett has received NFCA first team All-America accolades each year of her Bulldog career. A two-time top 25 finalist for USA Softball Player of the Year, she is the only Bulldog to ever receive first-team honors three times, and is attempting to become only the school’s second four-time All-American. She has twice been named the NFCA/Diamond Sports Catcher of the Year as the top catcher in NCAA Division I. In 2009 she added the Adidas Golden Shoe Award for the top base stealer in the Division I ranks.

In 2010 Bramlett again tops the SEC in batting average with a mark that ranks second in NCAA Division I softball. She set the school’s single-season steals record for the fourth-straight year and has only been thrown out once this season. She became Mississippi State’s career hits leader this season and is one run scored shy of the top mark in that category. Bramlett set Southeastern Conference single-season and career batting average records while finishing second in SEC and NCAA Division I career steals history. She was named First Team All-SEC for the third-straight season, making her the fourth MSU player to receive All-SEC accolades all four years of her career. She was also named to the top 10 for USA Softball Player of the Year for the first time in her career.

In 2009 she set the school’s single-season steals record for the third-straight season, swiping an SEC and NCAA best 54 bases. She also led the SEC and ranked fourth nationally in batting average (.486) while leading the Bulldogs to the NCAA Tournament for the third straight season. Her 2009 average was the second-highest in SEC single-season history. Bramlett passed former MSU great Iyhia McMichael for the Bulldogs’ career steals record in 2009. She enters her senior season with a 146 stolen-base total that ties for the third-highest in SEC history. She also led the SEC in hits last season with 88. In addition to her records for steals and batting average, Bramlett holds school marks for single-season hits per game, career runs per game, career stolen bases per game, and career stolen base percentage. As a sophomore she hit a team-best .450 and scored 52 runs while leading Mississippi State to 41 wins. She was named a first team All-American, second team All-SEC, Freshman All-SEC, and the SEC Freshman of the Year.