The Barometer Online

Issue date: 4/15/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Cory Reed Sophomore Audrey Roderfeld leads the Oregon State softball team with nine home runs on the season. As only a sophomore Roderfeld's 15 career home runs places her in a tie for No. 10 all-time at Oregon State.

She can make everyone laugh, she doesn't collapse under pressure, she values family and friends, and she can hit a home run at the drop of a dime. What more could a softball program ask for out of sophomore catcher and cleanup hitter Audrey Roderfeld? Maybe let up on the "Twilight" addiction just a hair.

"The team and I are really into the 'Twilight' craze," Roderfeld said. "I think we watched 'Twilight' nine times in one week."

Hopefully she's picking something up from the vampire's magical softball abilities. Aside from addictions to mythical creatures, Roderfeld, whose nickname is "Puka," says her main focus at OSU is softball.

"My main goal with softball this year was to try and take the team to the postseason," Roderfeld said.

After losing three in a row - one to Arizona and two to Arizona State in March - Roderfeld and the Beavers had a turning point in their mentality and decided they didn't want to keep losing to schools they had potential to beat.

"We always talk about taking it one game at a time, but after we played the Arizona schools, we realized we have to take it one inning at a time," Roderfeld said. "That was a real turnaround weekend for us."

For Roderfeld, that does nothing but put the pressure on. As the team's cleanup hitter, she's expected to get hits and bring in runs. With nine home runs just past the midpoint of the season, Roderfeld has proven to do just that.

"I do better under pressure," Roderfeld said. "When there is something expected of me and I'm in a pressure situation, I want to be the person you can depend on to do it."

No need to find a sports psychologist for Roderfeld; this girl seems to know exactly what she's doing and exactly what she needs to do to be successful - and she's got the statistics to show for it. Roderfeld not only leads the team in home runs with nine, but also leads in RBIs (29), hits (38) and batting average (.349). It's no doubt Roderfeld has earned her cleanup duty and her role as one of the younger leaders of the team.

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools