Whatever Christine Quattrocchi '03 expected from her first year pitching on a collegiate softball team, she certainly didn't expect to earn a school-record breaking number of wins.
"I was hoping to come in and see what was going on, and get used to it," she laughs. "I still haven't really gotten used to it."
Standing at medium height with curly black hair, Quattrocchi exudes an air of confidence and control, both of which she brings to the pitcher's mound.
She hails from Guilderland, NY, a suburb of Albany. Quattrocchi became interested in softball at a young age because both of her older sisters played.
"I wanted to be just like them," she affirms. Her original position was at third base, but she then moved to the pitcher's mound.
She tried playing other sports, such as basketball, but soon realized that she wanted to devote more time to improving her softball game. She became a member of a summer traveling softball team for six years, and she also played for the varsity team at Guilderland High School for five years.
A member of the National Honor Society at Guilderland, Quattrocchi was an academic and athletic success. She credits much of her enthusiasm to her parents.
"They're extremely supportive," she explains. "They always come to my games and cheer me on."
Her father was also a big influence in her softball career. "My dad was my coach for my whole life. At clinics he was always there with me, and he'd watch videotapes to give me pointers," she says.
On why she chose to come to Dartmouth, Quattrocchi asserts, "I like the atmosphere here." She had been looking for a Division I softball team at a school with strong academics, and after considering schools like Cornell and Princeton, she finally decided to go with the Big Green.
"I sent them a videotape of myself, and they liked it," she explains. "I knew I'd get playing time, plus it's only three hours away from home."
As for a major, she is still unsure about what path she wants to follow. "I came in as a bio-premed," states Quattrocchi, "but now I'm not so sure. I haven't gotten a chance to really explore other kinds of courses yet."
For now, she is having a great time on the softball field, and she also spends a lot of time with her teammates.
"They've become my family," she says. "We have fun playing together."
Most of the team will be here for at least another year, as they will only be losing one player -- pitcher Stacy Sanders '00 -- to graduation.
The team has come together this year and has gained a lot of confidence from their newfound successes, which include two wins against the Princeton Tigers, a team they had never beaten before.
"Sweeping Princeton definitely boosts our confidence," Quattrocchi states. "Even when we were behind, I knew we'd get those runs back. I feel so confident out there because I know I have a great team behind me."
As for the rest of the season, she has high hopes. "I think that we can definitely win Ivies," she says with a smile.
"We have a couple tough games ahead of us, against teams like Harvard and Cornell, and the way we've been playing I think we can beat them."
Winning the Ivy League title would certainly be a sign of this team's rise in talent and level of play, especially coming off of a 2-10 Ivy record last season.
The title would be only one of this season's great achievements, as the current squad has broken many school records -- including the number of wins in a season (21).
The season also has been record-breaking for Quattrocchi. Besides setting the school record for number of wins in a season by a single pitcher, she is currently three strikeouts short of the school record, having denied 107 batters this season.
As for her future years at Dartmouth, she exclaims, "I'm excited. I think next year's team is going to be really good, and as for the years after that, we'll see what happens. But I can't wait."
