Coaches often call upon their players to step-up to the occasion. In Christie Jensen’s case, stepping up comes in a variety of ways.##M:[more]##
While Jensen has certainly been effective as the Knights’ starting pitcher this season and as a team captain, Jensen’s ability to serve as a utility player — one that can play effectively in a variety of positions — combined with her desire to do whatever it takes to aid her team’s success is what makes her so valuable.
Jensen began playing softball when she was eight years old, shortly after moving to West Windsor from Connecticut. Her father works for Pfizer and her mother is the owner of a property management business in New York City. Beginning as a pitcher, Jensen says the sport quickly became “addictive.” She eventually moved into playing infield, mostly shortstop, and then made her way to the outfield.
Believe it or not, playing in the outfield is her favorite and strongest position, and the spot for which the High School North senior will be headed to Seton Hall next year. “I love playing outfield because I have more of an opportunity to run and catch and dive for the ball,” she says, adding that she plays the position most of the time with her travel team. And “I love pitching in high school because I have an opportunity to strike people out.”
Since beginning her softball career, the aspiring business administration major has played on all-star and travel teams and stepped into whatever positions needed to be filled.
Jensen says she can adapt to playing a variety of positions, as they “are very similar because of the way you have to approach the ball,” she says. “I don’t seem to have a big problem from switching over from infield to outfield.”
Jensen made a bigger switch at the beginning of this season, when her coach asked her to take over the main pitching spot after Liz Chudzik switched schools and, therefore, was grabbed by the Pirates. Despite not planning on pitching at all this year, Jensen rose to the occasion. “With pitching everybody is focusing on you, especially in the beginning of the year,” Jensen says. “I had to prove myself and show that I’m able to pitch, even though the other pitcher left. I had to fill in the job, even though I was only expecting to play outfield.” Jensen says she and Chudzik were both up for consideration for the number one pitching spot because both had shared time on the mound.
With her consistency, she has helped lead her team to a 15-8 record this year. Other key players like Danielle Parisi, who finished with 111 career hits — the first to reach that milestone in the school’s history — and Brianna Taft, Sydney Turchin, and Liz Huttner, have rounded out the Knights this year. The team’s feats include a defeat of South earlier this month, and its third straight division championship in the Colonial Valley Conference, which it earned on May 28, with its win over Nottingham.
Despite losing Chudzik, Jensen says her goal was to keep the team’s spirits and confidence up. “I do feel pressure because there’s only three captains, including myself, and we got the reputation from last year that we were a team to beat, and the captains and I had to make sure we would still be that team.”
When it comes to pitching, Jensen says she focuses on the task at hand, and obviously, the catcher’s glove. “If there’s something bad that happens, I step off the mound, and I feel much calmer,” Jensen says. “If any pitcher is down on herself and getting upset, it’s kind of contagious. I try to make it a goal for myself not to let anything affect me. I try to cheer up the girls and encourage them to do well.”
And Jensen is looking forward to helping Seton Hall’s team do the same. Jensen had gone to a few recruiting camps last summer, the last of which was Seton Hall’s, where she approached the team’s coach and gave him a copy of her own DVD. The next day, during Jensen’s game with her traveling team, the coach attended her game, and afterwards told her that he wanted to “keep an eye” on her. Even though Jensen will not be receiving a financial scholarship her first year at Seton Hall, she is the preferred walk-on and has a spot on the team. “If I prove myself this coming year, I might be able to get some scholarship money,” she says. “But I’m just honored to play on the team for Seton Hall. They are Division I.” Playing for a Division I team has been a main goal of hers throughout her career.
Judging by what Jensen has done this year for the Knights, she shouldn’t have any problems proving herself at the collegiate level. She feels the Knights have had a successful season, despite falling in the state tournament, as “most of the teams we played and lost, we either lost by one run, or it was really close.” Playing with North has been nothing short of an honor, she says.
“Everyone contributes to the team in a different way,” she says. They rise to the occasion when we need them, and everybody is important to the team, not just one person.”
Despite being a young team, with only one senior starter in the lineup, the Pirates have also performed well this season, with a record of 14-7. South lost to South Brunswick in the opening round of the state tournament, but kept South Brunswick scoreless until the fourth. The Pirates responded with two runs after a rain delay in the fourth inning, but ultimately fell 4-2. And the good news is all the experience gained by the team’s freshmen and sophomores will come in handy next year.
