At 5-feet-4-inches tall, UNM utility player Jessica Garcia isn’t the most daunting player on the softball diamond.
But when she steps into the batter’s box, pitchers shake in their cleats. That’s because Garcia’s .792 slugging percentage leads the Mountain West Conference.
Head coach Erica Beach said that Garcia’s strike zone is smaller than other batters’, so pitchers struggle to get her out.
“As long as you swing the bat hard and you swing at the right pitches, you’re going to make contact,” Beach said. “It’s less about being overpowering and more about being smart at the plate and getting the job done.”
Garcia has certainly got the job done from the plate. She ranks among the conference’s best in eight statistical hitting categories including doubles, home runs and RBIs.
“I’m just swinging the bat with a lot of confidence right now,” Garcia said. “I’m seeing the ball really well, and I’m able to put the barrel to the ball. It’s that simple.”
Garcia’s two home runs Saturday against Colorado State brings her within one long ball of UNM’s history books. She has 12 homers overall, needing just two more to surpass UNM’s single-season home run record.
“If a pitcher is going to put the ball on the outside edge of the plate, that’s my pitch,” Garcia said. “If I’m able to get my hands extended and make contact, good things happen.”
Good things, indeed.
Garcia is hitting .492 for the year and leads the Lobo softball team in every statistical hitting category except RBIs. That distinction belongs to shortstop Stefanie Carramusa.
“We definitely have a friendly rivalry going,” Carramusa said. “We’ve been chasing back and forth in the home run race this year. She hits one, and then I get one. I tried to see her two, but that didn’t work out so well.”
As it stands, Garcia leads the home run race by two, whereas Carramusa has two more RBIs overall.
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“I’ll have to remind her of that,” Carramusa said.
In Saturday’s contest, Garcia went 3-for-4 with two home runs, two RBIs and three runs scored. She is also in the midst of a three-game hitting streak.
But ask Garcia about this or any of her accomplishments, and she deflects praise.
“It’s my teammates who do a good job of getting on base and setting me up to knock them in,” she said. “We’re all hitting well. It’s a team effort.”
Beach said that’s just the kind of player Garcia is.
“She’s not the team’s outspoken, vocal leader,” she said. “But I think a lot of the other players look up to her because of her on-the-field performance. She leads by example.”
