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NCAA News Archive - 2010

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May 14, 2010 8:39:04 AM

When Christie Softy makes contact with a softball, it usually goes a long way.

The senior shortstop at C.W. Post went on a Division II record streak by hitting home runs in seven straight games April 20-27. Don't feel sorry for the previous record holder, either, since it was Softy herself who hit homers in six consecutive games last year.

"It has been kind of crazy, because you don't think you are going to hit a home run every game," said Softy, who owns the school record with 48 homers in her career. "You get a good pitch and you swing. I've been able to get a good piece of them and eventually they just go over the fence."

This season, Softy has hit a single-season school record 17 home runs, which again broke one of her previous records when she connected for 15 homers during her freshman year.

She can add to the total this weekend when C.W. Post competes in the NCAA Division II East Region 1 portion of the tournament.

Her home run streak began with a grand slam against New York Institute of Technology in the second game of a doubleheader April 20. She followed that up by hitting home runs in both games of doubleheaders against St. Thomas Aquinas, Molloy and Mercy. That included a game-winning homer in the bottom of the eighth in the second game against Molloy.

Softy says when she is having success like this, the game seems to slow down.

"The ball doesn't look a beach ball or anything, but it definitely looks bigger than a softball," said Softy, who has already graduated this spring with a degree in health and physical education. "My mind isn't racing all over the place. It is just kind of blank, and I am not thinking about anything. I just go up there and swing."

It's a completely opposite feeling when she isn't on top of her game.

"If I get in a hitting slump, I feel like everything is happening so fast and I feel rushed at the plate," Softy said. "But when I'm locked in on the ball, everything just slows down. I'm just focused on the ball and just hitting it."

Softy grew up playing youth baseball against boys until she reached the fifth grade. That's when she took up softball, and it has remained a large part of her life since. This includes playing on travel teams in the summer.

"It is sad that it is coming to an end," said Softy, who is scheduled to start her student-teaching assignments in middle school and high school next fall. "When I think about it, I realize that softball has taken up so much of my time. I wonder how I'm going to fill it."

Part of it will be coaching a team of girls that she has known since they were 9 years old. Softy has been one of the coaches for the team for the last four years.

"They are 13 now, and I've watched them grow," Softy said. "I enjoy that so much."

Softy chose to attend C.W. Post because of the school's proximity to Floral Park on Long Island, where she grew up. Her parents, Susan and Richard, come to all of her games.

"I'm very close with my family," Softy said. "When schools would come to recruit me, the first question I had was, ‘Where exactly are you located?' I would have to tell them I wasn't looking to go to school that far away from home."

Softy and her teammates have reached the Division II finals twice in their careers. Last year, they were eliminated in two games at the regional.

"Our goal is to go back to the Division II finals again," Softy said. 

Softy's record is the third major mark set on Division II diamonds this year. Earlier, Central Washington's Danielle Monson hit safely in 40 consecutive softball games, while Kevin Pillar of Cal State Dominguez Hills hit safely in 54 straight games.