Growing up playing softball or baseball, there was a stereotype about right field. It’s often where the youngest or weakest player on the team is stuck in an attempt to avoid seeing any defensive action. But as the level of the game progresses, right field becomes the position with one of the strongest arms on the field. Often, they’re a power bat too.
The Utah Talons’ Caroline Jacobsen has made a professional career out of being an elite rightfielder, and it happened because she was looking for an opportunity in college.
Jacobsen remembers the summer before her freshman year at Duke with the whole team on campus training before the semester started. When they began to work on defense, the players were told to go to their positions. Jacobsen had played all around the diamond in high school, but over the last couple of years in travel ball had really focused on the corners in the outfield.
She noticed left field was a little crowded.
“I think there were four people in left field and one person in right field. So I was like, ‘Oh, I’ll just go to right field.'”
Jacobsen figured that would naturally give her more opportunities not only to practice to take reps, but also earn a starting spot. She was right.
During her freshman year in 2019, she started in 53 games – 39 of her starts in right field, with the other 17 coming at third base. She became the first player in Duke softball history to land on SportsCenter’s Top 10 Plays, coming in at No. 7 after throwing out a runner at third with a laser throw from right field.
“It kind of stuck ever since then,” Jacobsen said. “I’ve pretty much only played right field.”
She was the Blue Devils’ stalwart at the position for the next three seasons. With an extra year of eligibility due to COVID-19, Jacobsen transferred to Clemson to pursue a master’s degree and started all 61 games in rightfield for the Tigers.
Jacobsen played for two young programs in college, finding success with both before being drafted to play in the All-Star Cup (formerly AU Pro Softball Championship Season). That summer, she was one of three rookies named to the All-Defensive Team.
Despite a quiet demeanor, Jacobsen’s game does big talking for her. She tracks fly balls incredibly well and has a cannon of an arm. Her dad and older brother always harped on throwing mechanics when she first started playing, and even at nine years old, Jacobsen’s natural throwing ability was apparent.
“My childhood coach would always have our team go to center field and try to make throws to home plate and hit a bucket. It’s something that I’ve been doing since I was a little kid, and it developed naturally,” Jacobsen recalled.
But the longer she’s played right field, the more she’s mastered the position beyond having a strong arm. She’s spent seven years in the corner as a college athlete and now pro, and feels like in that time she’s seen every way a ball can come off a hitter’s bat. Those prolonged yeps and years of experience are what’s invaluable to why she reads fly balls so well.
“It’s a really strange position based on how the ball flies off the bats, especially of right-handed hitters,” Jacobsen explained. “It tails a lot off righty hitters towards the [foul] line based on the spin of what happens whenever they try to hit an outside pitch.”
An elite right-fielder impacts every facet of the game: what parts of the zone a pitcher can trust her defense with, how aggressive runners will be on the base path. Turning would-be singles into outs is Jacobsen’s favorite part about playing the position.
“Ground ball to right field and having a chance to throw people out at first base, it’s something that people aren’t expecting, especially as a hitter,” she said.
Even as the AUSL expands, opportunities in pro softball remain limited, and over three seasons, Jacobsen has always found a way not only onto a team but into a starting position. She won the inaugural championship with the Talons last summer, but the roster was bound to be shaken up at the expansion draft. The original four teams could protect players from being selected by the two expansion clubs, and General Manager Lisa Fernandez locked in Jacobsen to the Talons’ 2026 roster.
“She’s an excellent outfielder, probably has one of the strongest arms in the game,” Fernandez said of Jacobsen. “She solidified a big spot in our order and came through in some critical moments, but it’s really what she does that you can’t see that makes her valuable. The calmness, the approach, the tone, the serious work ethic that she has.”
In some ways, Jacobsen is the player who could be overlooked. She played for two college programs in their early years without an established reputation yet. She never received national recognition like an All-American nod. And she plays the position that’s not so flashy.
“Coming from [her] school… being able to produce and then being able to now translate it up to the next level, that says a lot about who she is, and the confidence that she has in herself,” Fernandez added.
With the AUSL season approaching in June and an opportunity for the Talons to chase back-to-back titles, there’s little doubt who will be at No. 9 for the team. And she hopes players who find themselves there embrace it.
“It’s not a bad thing to be in rightfield. Own the position and take pride in being a right fielder,” Jacobsen said.
Savanna Collins is the Senior Reporter for the AUSL. You can follow her on X @savannaecollins.
