KC grad transitions to new school, team, position

By Barbara Boxleitner
Special to the Times

KIRTLAND, N.M.

A fresh start was just what Brianna Switzler needed.

The Kirtland Central High graduate said her family relocated to North Dakota, where she started attending a different college and playing a different softball position.

There, the freshman infielder has distanced herself from the painful memories of losing relatives to COVID-19 back home.

“A new state, a new college and a new position, the transition wasn’t that bad,” said the transfer from Lamar Community College. “I was just glad to be out here.”

Switzler has been a top offensive player for North Dakota State College of Science.

She enters the week playing 40 of 47 games and with a .361 batting average, 22nd among Mon-Dak Athletic Conference players.

She hit .545 with four runs batted in during three wins of the past weekend’s National Junior College Athletic Association Region XIII championship.

Among four Wildcats cited on the all-tournament team, she extended her hitting streak to seven in helping the team claim the regional title and reach next week’s Division III National Championship.

Wildcats head coach Mike Oehlke said she has hit in the heart of the order, mostly in the fifth spot, all season.

“She hits really well to the opposite field,” he said. “She’s a very smart softball player.”

The right-handed batter said she stopped using the split grip she used in high school in order to make consistent contact.

“I really just focused on my timing of my step and making sure my hands are put together,” she said. “I’m going up there confidently and always trying to hit the ball and put it into play.”

“I was actually able to find my own approach to where it became a routine,” she said.

She is tied for the team lead with 10 doubles and ranks fifth with 26 RBIs. She has two home runs.

Switzler had a season-high 11-game hitting streak during April, maintaining her rhythm despite 10 games being postponed or canceled in between. Included in that streak were five multi-hit games.

She had two doubles and a single in three at-bats during a rout of Bismarck State College. Her season highs of three hits and four RBIs tied for the most on the squad that game.

Although she played second base and shortstop during the fall, this spring she has been playing third base, which she said she played as a high school underclassman.

“I still consider myself a utility player,” she said.

She usually plays even with the third base bag and a step off the foul line to be able to cover the third base-shortstop hole.

“It is a different angle for sure, the angle off the left-handed batters,” she said. “Some slow rollers caught me off guard.”

 

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