The first Badger player to nail seven home runs three-quarters of the way through the team's season is Canadian slugger, Katie Hnatyk.
Hnatyk has hit a team-high seven home runs this season, but that statistic means little without its astounding context. Until last year, seven home runs was the all-time single-season home run record for UW softball. Hnatyk's seven home runs ranks her among the current leaders in the Big Ten, a conference that includes Northwestern, which unseated No. 1 UCLA earlier this season, and Michigan, which defeated UCLA in last season's title game to assume the status of reigning NCAA champion. Second to Hnatyk's seven home runs on the Badger squad is Alexis Garcia's with three.
There's more. Last season graduates — and UW softball legends — Kris Zacher and Boo Gillette, who posted 20 long balls apiece in four years at Madison, share Wisconsin's career home runs record. Hnatyk is four home runs shy of tying that record, and she has — at the bare minimum — 12 games remaining in her second year with the team.
"I think Katie has unlimited potential, but we haven't even tapped it yet," UW head coach Chandelle Schulte said. "She's a better hitter this year than she was last year, in that she can hit different pitches … So I think eventually what's going to happen is you are going to see both her average and her home runs go up."
Schulte is not the only one who has high hopes for the young star. The London, Ontario, native was recently selected to the Canadian Senior National Team, Canada's premier softball squad. At 19 years of age, Hnatyk is one of the youngest players on the roster. Hnatyk will compete with Team Canada in the Ontario Pro Tour, the Canada Cup and the US Cup, then will play in the 2006 International Softball Federation XI World Women's Championships in Beijing. That tournament is a 2008 Olympic qualifier.
"I'm so excited to learn what she learns [from her Team Canada experience]," Schulte said. "And for her to come back and just be in that system, I think it's … awesome."
Hnatyk lived in Ontario until she was 12 years old, at which point she moved with her family to Woodbury, Minn. She had no problem at all adjusting to life in the United States. She attributes the easy transition to the similarities between Canada and the United States, and to the fact that she was starting at a new school. However, there is little doubt that Hnatyk's charm and her general easygoing demeanor helped ease the transition.
When she got to high school, she seriously blossomed as a softball player. She was an all-Conference and an all-Section choice as a junior and a senior, and was an all-State selection as a senior. She hit a red-hot .479 during her final year at school.
As a star her senior year, Hnatyk had plenty of Division I teams knocking on her door. Even though she enjoyed her time in Minnesota, when it came down to picking between the Gophers and the Badgers, the choice was clear.
"Getting recruited by [Wisconsin] last year, [they] really talked about how the school was just a great school, and [about] the pride of being a Badger," Hnatyk said. "It felt really good."
Hnatyk has felt welcomed at Madison by both her teammates and her friends. In fact, she says that there is a significant overlap in the two peer groups.
"A lot of the time the team will get together [off the field]," Hnatyk said. "On Sundays, we'll get together and watch 'Grey's Anatomy' and 'Desperate Housewives.' There are a lot of us that get together. It's cool — we spend all of this time together, but we still like to hang out with each other, too."
Hnatyk is confident and comfortable in each of her settings at Wisconsin. As the Badgers head into the thick of the Big Ten schedule, there is little doubt that the team is delighted for the sophomore sensation to be finding her groove, both in and out of the batter's box.
