Every few days in April, there is a new headline on the Wesleyan athletics softball site touting a new accomplishment by a familiar player. This player, of course, is Karla Hargrave ’08, who pitched spectacularly over the second half of the softball season. The highlights of this run included a three-game win streak, two four-hitters, a school-record 15-strikeout game, and the first recorded no-hitter on Wesleyan University grounds.
The essence of Hargrave’s mastery of the art of pitching lies in her hard work year-round.
“I’ve played on summer teams since my freshman year of high school,” Hargrave said. “Last year I played on an under-23 team, which was a great experience. I felt like a kid out there playing with the older girls, but it really made me step up my game.”
The summer ball helped Hargrave immensely, since it changed her pitching motion, improved her accuracy, and allowed her to get more movement on her pitches. But it was the practice that she got pitching to the Wesleyan catchers Sarah Gillooly ’06, Joanna Brownson ’08, and Nikki Katz ’09 that allowed her to truly implement the new motion. “There are captains’ practices three times a week in the fall and people are really good about coming, especially the catchers,” Hargrave said. “The catchers are dedicated. I’ll call them and they’ll come catch for me. It lets me get some extra throws in.”
The extra practice sessions have allowed Hargrave to develop an intimidating five-pitch repertoire. She mixes up her pitches often, switching between a changeup, a dropball, a curveball, a low and away fastball, and, her favorite, a riseball. Her pitches can be difficult to differentiate, as they are all the same speed. This initial similarity has a tendency to confound the opposing batter, who are often left to guess which pitch is coming at them with the differences in the pitches’ movements.
“Pitching is a mind game,” Hargrave said. “Because the pitcher is only 43 feet away from the plate in softball, the batter needs to guess what the pitcher is going to throw next. One of the most fun parts of being out there is getting into the batters head and confusing them on every single pitch.”
Despite all her hard work as an individual, Hargrave credits the entire team with her success this year. “The captains [Gilloly, Lynn Leber ’06, and Beth Bernstein ’06] set a good example,” Hargrave said, chuckling. “They tell people ‘Be nice or else.’”
It’s this team-wide sense of affection that made the season enjoyable for Hargrave.
“This is the closest team I’ve ever been on,” she said. “There are team dinners every day, and our schedule is basically breakfast, lunch, softball, dinner.It’s the first team where I’ve felt team unity rub off on me,” she said.
As the team coalesced, the team’s play and Hargrave’s pitching improved dramatically.
“Everyone found their niche,” she said. “It was easier to focus and just worry about the game.”
She said the friendships and the closeness of the girls made this season her most enjoyable ever.
“People would cheer for me to the point of embarrassment. It feels really good,” she said, blushing. “You don’t realize how well you’re playing until it’s the end of the game and then suddenly everyone’s jumping on you.”
Leave a Reply