It is a different location and a new level, but Addisen Fisher continues to do Addisen Fisher things on the softball field.

The former National Gatorade Player of the Year at Bend High has maneuvered through changes and challenges, going from high school phenom to carving out a prominent role in the UCLA pitching rotation in her freshman year.

“Everything has been a learning experience,” Fisher said. “College softball just works a little differently. I’m lucky to be in such a positive environment with my teammates and on a good pitching staff.”

In her first year at UCLA, Fisher has pitched in 109 1/3 innings, struck out 98 batters, started 16 games, and boasts a 2.43 earned run average and a 16-2 record. As she routinely did in her four-year career for the Lava Bears, Fisher threw a no-hitter against Howard on March 26.

She’s been nominated for the country’s Freshman of the Year and was a first team All-West Region selection.

On Friday, the No. 9 Bruins began their postseason run in the Los Angeles Regional, where they are the host team to UC Santa Barbara, San Diego State and Arizona State. Should UCLA advance out of its regional, they will face the winner of the Columbia (S.C.) Regional in the Super Regionals with a spot in the College World Series in Oklahoma City on the line.

Fisher has learned throughout the first year of playing Big Ten softball that it is a definite step up from high school or travel ball, where she dominated. Before, she pitched nearly, if not every, inning. She was so overpowering that she didn’t really have to scout opposing batters’ tendencies.

Now she is part of a rotation and has come out of the bullpen in high-leverage situations. She spends time watching film to try to get batters out and has discovered that at this level, there are a lot of players who are motivated to be as great as she is.

“Coming in and not being the ace has been different for me,” Fisher said. “It has been good to learn about how a pitching staff works and how it is not because I am not good enough, it is because there is a strategy behind everything.

“There is a big jump between the levels being played in college softball. It’s literally the top one percent of the top one percent,” Fisher added. “We are playing against players who have the same competitive drive as me. It’s kinda crazy, I didn’t think anyone was more competitive than me or anyone wanted it more than me. Now I am here on a team with people who push my expectations of myself every day.”

The jump from high school to college was just as much a mental grind. Fisher came to UCLA with the pressure of being the top prospect in the country. She was named Oregon’s Gatorade Softball Player of the Year three times. She put up silly numbers in the pitcher’s circle during her four years at Bend High and capped off her career with a Class 5A state title last spring.

“Coming out of high school I threw a lot of no-hitters, I struck a lot of people out and had an ERA below 0.5,” Fisher said. “And I thought that was normal and now I am realizing that those are video-game numbers and are crazy. So I’ve had to work on not being too hard on myself when I do give up a hit or if I give up runs. It is not the end of the world. Everyone here is great at softball.”