Heading into her team’s slate of games at the Florida State Invitational on March 10, Syracuse softball head coach Leigh Ross decided to reorder the top of her lineup. Ross inserted into the third slot sophomore first baseman Heather Kim, who spent much of her freshman year as SU’s No. 3 hitter but had hit mostly seventh and eighth this season.

It didn’t take Kim long to respond to the promotion.

Kim went 7-for-11 over the course of three games that Saturday, hitting three home runs and knocking in eight runs. It was a day unlike any Kim has ever experienced.

‘I am not really known for hitting home runs,’ Kim said. ‘I was just seeing the ball really well and just taking good cuts and things sort of worked out.’

Kim and Orange will open Big East play this weekend with a doubleheader at Providence Saturday, followed by another twin bill at Connecticut on Sunday.

Despite a stellar freshman campaign, Kim began the season buried near the bottom of the Syracuse lineup because of a poor preseason. The sophomore has worked to regain a spot in the heart of the Syracuse order and return to the form that earned her All-Big East third team honors as a freshman.

‘I think her season has been more of a steady progression,’ Ross said. ‘It was never really ‘down.’ She just started and has gotten better.’

If Ross had gone solely by last year’s numbers, Kim would have never left the No. 3 spot. In 2006, the Boulder, Colo., native set Syracuse freshman records for RBIs (35), walks (20), multiple-RBI games (10), and on-base percentage (.430). Kim’s .348 batting average was good for third on the team.

When it came time for indoor workouts prior to the season, Kim was unable to find her stroke from the previous campaign. She said she didn’t have a clear explanation for the slow start. Subsequently, Ross said the first baseman’s performances in batting practice and during intra-squad scrimmages were simply not up to par for a middle-of-the-lineup hitter.

‘When you start a season you go only by what you’ve seen inside during preseason,’ Ross said. ‘We can’t go for any player on what they did last year. Every year you have to come back and prove yourself.’

Not that struggling to prove herself is anything new for Kim. The Fairview (Colo.) High School graduated went unrecruited until she was discovered randomly by Syracuse coaches at a tournament the summer before her senior year. This despite earning class 5A all-state accolades in Colorado her junior season and compiling a .522 average over her final two seasons.

Early this spring, though, she found herself in a difficult hole. Rather than complain, Kim accepted her diminished role in the lineup and worked to impress her new coach. Results did not come immediately. In her first 15 games, the first baseman hit just .238 with four RBIs. She insists her play was unaffected by the demotion in the lineup.

‘You go up with the mentality to drive in runs or move runners over regardless of where you are so that didn’t really matter to me,’ Kim said. ‘I expect myself to perform – to drive in runners and get base hits when we need them.’

Yet even as Kim’s production languished early on, her game at-bats steadily improved. Her performances leading into that Saturday at Florida State were enough to convince her coach that Kim was ready for a move up in the lineup.

‘Once Heather started swinging the bat and making more contact you could kind of see it happening,’ Ross said. ‘You don’t even have to look at stats because you can tell when a kid is hitting the ball hard and getting good at-bats.’

It’s difficult to deny that a move to the three-spot has to some degree enthused Kim. She led the Orange to a 3-3 finish in the Florida State Tournament, SU’s best tournament finish this year. Kim finished the weekend 11-for-19 (.579) with three home runs and nine RBIs – enough to earn her all-tournament honors. Her batting average for the season has inflated to .338, good enough for third on the team. Her three home runs, 13 RBIs, and 11 walks all rank second on the squad.

Despite those numbers, Kim still sees room for improvement in her offense. The pressure on Kim to drive in runs is made greater by the Orange’s pitching struggles this season. For SU to be successful during the Big East season, Kim knows herself and the other hitters in the lineup will have little margin for error.

‘There have been a couple times this season when I’ve come up with runners on and needed to get a base hit or move them over and I didn’t,’ Kim said. ‘I want to be more consistent and drive in the runners when they are there for me.’

Published on March 21, 2007 at 12:00 pm