Photo credit: Bob Cragin
From June 19-23 and June 26-30, USCBAthletics.com will count down the top 10 moments of the 2016-17 school year for Sand Shark Athletics. Today’s entry is No. 8 on the list.
Marissa Becker thought her softball career was over when the summer following her high school graduation rolled around and she still didn’t have a place to play.
At the last minute, she found herself with an offer to become a Sand Shark and jumped at the opportunity. Four years later, she walked away as the program’s all-time leader in hits (202), triples (9), and stolen bases (47).
Becker smashed the records for triples and stolen bases early in her senior season, but the hits record of 200 shared by Taylor Triplett and Missy Hughes seemed out of reach. She would need 68 hits in her final season to tie the mark, a total only two Sand Sharks had reached in the program’s first five seasons.
After going 1-for-11 in the first Sun Conference series of the season at Ave Maria, the odds of were long, but Becker came back the next weekend and went 6-for-13 in three games at Webber International, beginning a stretch of 21 games in which she batted .468 (36-for-77) with 11 multi-hit games.
The record-tying and breaking hits came April 22 – on Senior Day – against Sun Conference champion Warner. Becker beat out an infield single to tie the record, then slapped a single into left field for the record-breaker as her teammates chanted “2-0-1, 2-0-1” from the dugout.
Perhaps the most impressive element of Becker’s feat is the fact that she did so after recording just 21 hits in 62 at-bats as a freshman. After earning a full-time starting role at second base, she collected 49 hits as a sophomore and ended up with a remarkable 132 hits over her final two seasons.
