She cruises around town, car windows down, maybe even a foot sticking out the window.
A Diet Coke likely sits in the cup holder as thoughts of the next rendezvous with her hacky sack are close by. While the melodies of Bob Marley and other oldies mixes relax her until the team arrives at its destination, she has conversations reminiscing about random bumps in the road she and her teammates have encountered.
This is the second best athlete at UF.
Welcome to the world of Stacey Nelson.
Other than Tim Tebow, she is Gainesville's top attraction.
She may be the best player in the country, but she doesn't know it. She could be the player that, years from now, is known as the pitcher most responsible for starting a softball powerhouse, but she's blushing at the thought of it. She may be one of the most decorated athletes - in all sports - to come to UF, but she would rather get to another game of hacky sack then wrap her mind around that.
"I don't know. I don't believe it," a red-faced Nelson said when asked if she ever realized she was among the best players in the nation. "If that's what people think, I guess they're getting fooled."
Actually, the fools would be football players Dustin Doe, Ahmad Black and Wondy Pierre-Louis, along with a group of baseball players who thought they could hit off Nelson. In Sunday's Swing for Cancer competition, Nelson struck out athletes from several UF sports and at times made Billy Donovan wish he was playing T-ball.
She's already UF's career leader in wins (95), saves (15), shutouts (36), complete games (99), innings pitched (856.1) and strikeouts (759). She downed No. 1 Michigan in her freshman year and led UF to its first Women's College World Series last year.
This is where the competitive side comes in - the non-Diet-Coke-sipping, Bob-Marley-listening and hacky-sack-flipping side.
"She does have this driving side of her that wants to be a perfectionist," outfielder and close friend Kim Waleszonia said. "With homework, she wants to be a perfectionist. … From a one-page assignment to a huge 20-page paper. Some people just get it done to be done and turn it in. She gets it done and makes sure it's done right and looked over 10 times. It doesn't matter if the teacher's easy or a hard grader. She makes sure it's done to perfection."
Thanks for screwing up that test curve, Stacey. Some people depend on those, you know?
It'd be a lot easier for everybody if she stayed carefree all the time.
"The deceiving part about it is, when she does get in the circle, there is nobody more competitive than she is," UF coach Tim Walton said. "She's competitive with strikes. She's competitive with balls. Those are the things that make her very special."
Even if Nelson doesn't realize it, she is the athlete who has fueled a program for years to come. Walton, in just his fourth year at UF, has been the director, but Nelson has been the performer. Ten years from now, when the Gators softball program has become one of the best, most consistent programs in the country, Nelson will be the player most talked about.
If you want to talk to her about it, however, stand on the side of the road with a case of Diet Coke, a Bob Marley CD and a hacky sack. But good luck talking to her about herself, because she'd much rather talk about that next bump in the road.
