This is the eighth in a series of weekly question and answer sessions with members of the ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ softball team conducted by team play-by-play announcer Ted Rossman. Each week a different Raider will be in the spotlight. Previous spotlights have featured Stacy Mui, Dorothy Donaldson, Kate Howard, Nichole Rawson, Rachel Smith, Natalie Rawson, and Elena Isaac, and are available on the ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ Athletics site (www.Go¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵRaiders.com)'xml:namespace prefix = o ns = 'urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office' />
Sophomore third baseman Kim Olmstead (Spring Hill, Fla.) is in her second year as a starter for the Raiders. She has started in 74 of the Raiders’ 82 games over the past two seasons. Olmstead hit her first home run of the season in game one of Monday’s doubleheader versus Niagara, a 7-4 ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ victory. She also knocked in a run in game two, which marked her 10th run batted in on the season and 18th of her ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ career.
Ted Rossman: You have shown a lot more power at the plate this season. Do you think that there is any particular reason for that’
Kim Olmstead: I don’t know. I’ve come up with some big hits. I really try to take advice from Coach C [Jim Ciccone]. Over the weekend, Dorothy Donaldson gave me some advice, too. She said that I looked like I was thinking too much at the plate, which was true. Everyone’s really good with stuff like that; the Rawsons will be like, ‘We just picked up the change-up sign.’ Everyone really helps each other out.
TR: How would you describe your playing style’
KO: I do the little things. I’m not a big power hitter like Dorothy or the Rawsons, but I come up occasionally big. I just try to make plays in the field and get on base.
TR: Your father played baseball for four seasons at Florida International University. Did he push you to play softball’
KO: That’s a funny story, actually. Back when I was 10 and we lived in Illinois, I did gymnastics and dance and all that fun stuff. So when we moved to Florida, I thought that he was going to sign me up for a gymnastics class. When he came back, he gave me a glove and said, ‘You’re playing softball.’ So he was definitely the main person who pushed me to play softball, and it was hard at first, but it’s worked out for the best.
TR: Does your father ever talk about his playing career’
KO: He’s talked some, I’d say. He’s definitely been the most influential person in my career, like he was always at the field practicing with me. He was an assistant on my high school team.
TR: What is something that you don’t think a lot of people realize about playing a varsity sport in college’
KO: It’s tough, and I’m not saying that like I don’t realize that other people are also involved [in campus activities]. But like the other day we had to go down to Bucknell [on a Tuesday] and miss class, so we had to talk to professors and make up work and all that. It’s really important to balance things out. Personally, I think it’s good for me to be busy, because I’m good at getting done on time what needs to get done. I know not to put things off, like I know that we might have to do something like go back to Bucknell in the middle of the week. You just have to balance a lot of different things, especially playing an outdoor sport in the unpredictable weather of the northeast.
TR: Do you have a favorite game in your ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ career’
KO: Probably last year when we played Cornell. That was when I hit my first and then only home run, plus I had a couple of other hits, too. Last year was the first time that I’d ever played third base, and that game was really the first time that I felt comfortable there. I think that’s a game I’ll definitely remember. They’re a good team, too, one that we always measure ourselves against.
TR: What has helped you to become more comfortable in this, your second season at third base’
KO: Coach C is always there telling me, ‘Kim, be ready.’ He’s been great about hitting me extra ground balls in the fieldhouse whenever I want. He’s helped me a lot. Stuff like bunts, reading the hitter’s hands, moving around. It was tough at first because I was scared being so close to the batter.