Lawrence native Kim Ragazzo plays softball for Dominican College.
After a freshman season for the Dominican Collegesoftball team in which Kim Ragazzo hit .364 with 15 doubles and a team-high 12 home runs and 53 RBI, the scariest notion concerning her talent comes in a statement from her coach.
“We think she still has a lot more left in the tank,” Joe Burbridge said. “I hate to discount or dismiss what people do sometimes, or minimize the accomplishments, but yeah, this was what we expected of her this year. She started batting third and fourth for us in the fall and never batted anywhere else through the spring.”
For her efforts, the Lawrence High graduate was named to the National Fastball Coaches Association’s First-Team All-Region squad as Utility/Pitcher/First Baseman. She was also the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Rookie of the Year, and was named the CACC’s first-team first-baseman on the All-Conference team.
Like Burbridge, Ragazzo did not surprise herself.
“Overall I was happy with my freshman season as a whole,” she said. “Going in I expected great things of myself because I knew I was prepared and worked really hard in the off season. I wasn’t necessarily worried about earning any specific awards. I just wanted to be able to help my team out in any way possible to reach our goals and the numbers I focused on was our team record.
“Any achievements after that were just bonuses and I think we had a great season. As a team, we were definitely disappointed about the CACC tournament, but looking at our 3-9 start in Florida I think we surprised a few people in the conference.”
As the top seed in the conference tournament, the Lady Chargers won their first two games but lost two straight the next day. They still earned their fifth straight NCAA Division II Tournament bid, but suffered two straight losses in the East Region 1 tournament.
Those losses could not detract from Ragazzo’s amazing first year. She also had a 10-6 pitching record with a 2.77 ERA in 22 games (seven starts).
“I thought she threw well for a freshman, it’s always an adjustment,” Burbridge said. “She threw very hard but hitters in college are used to speed, it doesn’t bother them, so she had to adjust to that.
“It’s also an adjustment as a hitter but because Kim is such a good offensive player, she made it look easy. It’s not really that easy. Most players come in and have to go through that adjustment period but Kim was an aberration. She had success right away.”
Ragazzo felt that she was more than ready to take on college pitching after the rigorous competition she faced in travel softball.
“I think hitting off collegiate pitchers at the level I was playing at was not much of a challenge at all,” she said. “I played in some of the top 18U tournaments facing pitchers going to big D1 schools and I felt like it was no different.”
She also felt there was no real culture shock as a pitcher going against college hitters.
“With pitching, you always have days where you feel like you could pitch a no-hitter and everything is working, and then those days where they just seem to touch everything you try to throw by them,” Ragazzo said. “The difference is being mentally ahead of the hitters and that has a lot to do with the catcher you are working with.
“Fortunately, I had the privilege of working with our senior catcher, Ashley Corrao, and she always made sure we were on the same page which is key in order to be successful.”
Ragazzo speaks from a wealth of experience. Her travel career started at age 10 with the highly successful Hamilton Hurricanes. The fall prior to her freshman year at Lawrence she went with the Jaxx Gold and, after one year, moved to the New Jersey Mystics for the next three seasons.
Ragazzo’s high school career reached its zenith as a senior when she pitched the Cardinals to the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group III championship, setting the school’s season and career record in home runs in the process.
Ragazzo easily caught the eye of Burbridge for both her athletics and academics.
“She’s just a strong kid,” the coach said. “You look at her academic background, her grades were through the roof and they still are. She’s physically strong, she plays the game hard. She’s just an all-around good kid. Why wouldn’t you have someone like that on your team?”
What stood out about Burbridge is, he wanted Ragazzo on his team for four years, ever since she started high school. His interest then sparked her interest.
“When I played my first college showcase as a freshman, I remember playing on the Jaxx Gold, and we were in the championship game against the Rhode Island Thunder,” Ragazzo said. “We ended up losing by one run, and there were a couple college coaches there, one of them being Joe Burbridge.
“He was the first college coach to ever be interested in me, and I looked at the school online and figured it was so early in my career that I couldn’t make any quick decisions yet. I politely told him no thanks and said I still wanted to keep my options open.”
Burbridge bided his time, and Ragazzo eventually returned to option No. 1.
“It turned out that by the summer of senior year, I still had not found the right fit, and I gave him a call,” she said. “I took a visit in the fall and ended up verbally committing soon after.
“After I actually went up to visit the school and meet everyone, I just liked the environment, the players, what the team had accomplished in the previous three years and decided it was where I belong.”
She certainly looked like she belonged. Her .665 slugging percentage and 49 runs scored both led the team and her 64 hits were second. Ragazzo credited the Lady Charger seniors with much of her success, saying, “They taught us everything we needed to know on and off the field and I admire every one of them.”
And while her numbers were outstanding as a freshman, Ragazzo admitted there were some rough patches during the season.
“Most of the hitters you come across can tell you a point in the season where they struggled and had to work through it,” she said. “The game of softball itself can be very hot and cold and it is one of the only sports where you can fail more than you succeed and still be considered a great player.
“I definitely had a streak in the middle where my timing was just off and my power numbers dropped a little bit. When that happens, I just find myself going back to basics and trying not to think so much at the plate.”
Burbridge plans on moving Ragazzo back to third base—her natural position—next year, now that his three-year starter there has graduated.
“There’s a lot she can still do as a player and she knows that,” the coach said. “I think moving her back to her natural position will make a big difference. She is versatile enough to do a number of things, but we know she’s good down there and once she gets comfortable there again it will ease her mind.”
That mind is busy in the classroom as well. An occupational therapy major, Ragazzo has had to do a bit more of a juggling act in college than at Lawrence.
“I was pretty good at time management, but being a student-athlete still tests your skills at budgeting your time,” she said. “I kept having to email professors during season and staying ahead of the notes in class.
“Thankfully, most of the professors were very understanding and it did not become a problem for me at all. I actually liked having a sport to keep me busy because it forced me to do school work in the free time that I did have, and I actually had a better GPA in my spring semester than my fall semester.”
And if her athletic endeavors are anything like her softball career, the best is still yet to come in the classroom as well.
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