Sydney Booker wanted to play softball at the University of Alabama, but the offer didn’t come.

She signed with Southeastern Louisiana, which gave her a full scholarship, out of high school. She earned got all-conference recognition last season as a freshman, batting .362 with 49 RBIs, but decided she didn’t want to stay.

After being granted a release to transfer, she got a call from UA coach Patrick Murphy. The shortstop from Madison, near Huntsville, wasn’t holding any grudges.

"I apologize," Murphy told her. "You probably should have been here a year ago."

Her response: "That’s OK. Everything happens for a reason."

A trip to visit Alabama with her family was arranged, but Murphy had to work around her schedule. She had a summer job at a pizza place.

"What are doing? Waitress? Are you cooking them?" Murphy asked.

"No," she said. "Delivery."

Before she arrived, Murphy was already sold.

"That impressed me," he said. "Here’s a kid between freshman and sophomore year working. So she had a day off, I think it was a Sunday. They came down and I really enjoyed all of them. Neat family. And it worked out."

Booker didn’t just want to play at Alabama because the Crimson Tide is a regular Women’s College World Series participant. Her father, David Booker, has a couple of football national championship rings from playing at UA as a split end in the late 1970s.

"He tells me all the time how happy he is to see me here doing what I’m doing," Sydney said.

What she has been doing, since SEC play started last month, is making plays. Alabama came into the season with no incumbent at shortstop, and Booker won out in a competition for the spot.

Twice already she has produced a top-10 play of the day as recognized by ESPN’s "SportsCenter." At LSU, she sprinted behind third base into foul territory to snag a ball on a full-stretch, diving catch. Last weekend at Florida, she made another dive to catch a line drive, then threw to first base from her knees to complete a double play.

"It’s definitely a cool experience to see it (on TV)," she said. "It was a lot of Twitter notifications and some friends were texting me and telling me good job."

That’s exactly what Murphy wants from his shortstop.

"The biggest thing is make the routine play," he said, "and every now and then make the spectacular play, because you’re going to get the most balls hit your way. Get us out of innings, that’s the biggest part of it at that position."

Booker is batting .276 with 10 RBIs and five doubles. She wants to do more.

"I’m not worried about my defense," she said. "It’s my hitting I need to concentrate on. I’ve always been pretty good in the field. My main thing, I want to produce at the plate."

Booker is enjoying the adjustment to playing for a powerhouse program.

"Playing the best teams, you’ve got to beat the best to be the best and we’re doing that," she said. "We’re playing at the level of competition I wanted to play at. It’s just so cool."