Rodriguez is the face of intensity by Darren Cooper of The Record

OLD TAPPAN — It was a simple but telling preseason team bonding exercise.

Members of the Northern Valley/Old Tappan softball team were supposed to describe themselves in one word, and then their teammates were to do the same for one another.

For senior Julie Rodriguez, who committed to UCLA as a freshman and followed through, the same word kept coming up:

Intense.

“I am not very nice when it comes to playing,” Rodriguez said with a laugh while going over the story. “It’s probably the very stern face that I have on the mound and the mean look I give when I turn around — away from the umpire. And every once in a while, if someone makes an error, I’m sure my face isn’t too nice.”

“She is intense,” agrees Golden Knights coach Melissa Landeck. “She is a competitor. She wants those moments — she’s the kid that would want to be up with the bases loaded, bottom of the seventh, game on the line.”

The Norwood native, born June 8, 1999, is third and last in the line of siblings that played at NV/Old Tappan. Nick was a baseball player. Alexandra (yes, A-Rod) was a softball player.

So Landeck had heard a lot about Julie (yes, J-Rod, if you want) when she was young.

“We would do softball camps in the summer, and Julie was in third and fourth grade, and we were nervous that she was going to hurt the other kids her age [the way she hit],” said Landeck. “So we put her up with the seventh- and eighth-graders, and she was probably better than some of them at the time. She has ‘It.’ You know how a kid has ‘It.’ She has ‘It.’ ”

Rodriguez helped the Golden Knights to a 10-2 mark heading into Wednesday, and they are ranked No. 9 in the North Jersey Top 25.

It’s a year when there may not be a real Bergen County favorite (Ramsey and Immaculate Heart Academy appear to be the cream of the crop), but Rodriguez gives the Golden Knights a legitimate chance in every game.

“We want to win as much as we can. I have never won a league, never won the county,” said Rodriguez. “I want at least leagues … one title at least, one thing on the wall before I go.”

Last spring Rodriguez’s season was marred by a quirky injury. While she tried to steal a base against rival NV/Demarest, she says, her left thumb got caught during her slide. It was fractured.

Gamely, she went back to try to pitch the next inning.

“I was throwing grounders,” said Rodriguez. “It was just not going to happen. It’s pretty impossible to grip the ball without a thumb.”

After just a few weeks, Rodriguez was back in the Golden Knights lineup, but not in the circle.

Pitching is something Rodriguez has done since she was young, but honestly, it’s not her favorite part of the game. With her club team she is an outfielder. No, she likes to mash, rake, hit it on the screws — however you want to say it. She owns school records for most hits and batting average.

Landeck marvels at Rodriguez’s ability to understand the strike zone and adjust when a pitcher is throwing hard and the next day, when a different pitcher doesn’t have the same speed.

“She makes the adjustment seamlessly. People put the shift on her, pitch her outside — nothing fazes her. It’s been fun to watch,” said Landeck.

“Once you hit it on the sweet spot and really barrel it up, it’s the best feeling,” said Rodriguez. “You know right off the bat that it’s gone.”

After NV/Old Tappan, Rodriguez is gone to UCLA. Hers is a unique recruiting story. Rodriguez was enamored of the Bruins when she was 10. She went to a four-day sleepaway camp there for softball, and still remembers meeting Bruins assistant and softball legend Lisa Fernandez.

But UCLA, one of college softball’s premier programs, doesn’t actively recruit New Jersey, so Rodriguez took herself out to California and Colorado for club tournaments every chance she could.

At a camp just as her freshman year at NV/Old Tappan started, she wowed UCLA coaches with her power. They made her an offer. She didn’t think twice.

“Once I heard UCLA wanted me, everyone else was off the radar,” said Rodriguez. “They could have offered me a million dollars.”

Rodriguez is considering enrolling in a “bridge” program that can get her started in classes Aug. 1, but first there is a lot to play for at NV/Old Tappan. There are still balls to mash, pitches to throw and intense stares to be delivered.