UL pitcher Christina Hamilton (17) begins to unleash a pitch during a win last week against Sam Houston State. Hamilton has gone from having an unknown role at the beginning of the season to being 11-1 with a 1.07 ERA to this point. / Paul Kieu/The Advertiser

From pitching shutouts to picking up bats, Hamilton does whatever is needed

It was an early-season tournament game at UL’s Lamson Park and true freshman pitcher Macey Smith was pitching for the Ragin’ Cajuns at the time.

In the dugout was junior pitcher Christina Hamilton.

It wasn’t her turn to pitch, and yet Hamilton’s focus was very different than it had been since arriving in Lafayette out of Rosepine High three years earlier.

Even though she wasn’t pitching, Hamilton was into the game like never before. Every pitch she was rooting on and encouraging Smith.

“I just got excited,” Hamilton explained. “Macey was doing so well. I just wanted to do something to feel more apart of the game.”

This was a new angle, a new mindset, a new way of seeing the game. In the past, Hamilton’s view of that scene was very different.

“Before, it was all about me,” she admitted.

This time, that jolt of excitement resulted in a new gig for Hamilton. Almost like a little kid in the stands at a Major League ball park, Hamilton just yearned to do more than watch from afar. She wanted to be up, close and person.

“I am a child at heart,’’ she laughed.

So she began picking up the bats … basically volunteering her services as the team’s new bat girl.

“I just wanted to be more a part of the action,” Hamilton said, “so I starting picking up bats and communicating with the hitters, making them laugh … just anything to be apart of what was going on on the field.”

For the record, Hamilton delivered the UL’s best pitching performance of that tournament when her number was called upon.

As time went on, she kept serving as team bat girl – both when she wasn’t pitching and even when she was in the circle – and kept putting up shutout innings.

After a few weeks of it, Hamilton’s level of pitching went from encouraging to dominant. Eventually, she was given the ball to start the first Sun Belt Conference game of the season – at Georgia State last weekend – one week after pitching UL to a doubleheader sweep of defending national champion Oklahoma.

No longer was she just any old team member picking up bats. Suddenly, she was an 11-1 pitcher with a 1.07 ERA for a nationally ranked softball program.

On a staff looking for a solid No. 2 pitcher behind returning All-American Jordan Wallace when the season began, Hamilton had now pitched 85.1 innings to 70.2 for Wallace.

For Christina Hamilton the junior pitcher, however, none of those numbers or role changes are even remotely a reason to give up her new job.

“I just want to do whatever I can to help out and be apart of the team,” Hamilton said.

It’s almost like she’s making up for lost time.

The truth of the matter is that Hamilton didn‘t always have this team-first mindset. After an encouraging freshman season in 2011 that saw her go 11-2 with a 1.76 ERA in 83.2 innings, Hamilton suffered a knee injury in the postseason to end that first season.

Unfortunately, the injury kept her out her entire second season in Lafayette in 2012 and her red-shirt sophomore campaign didn’t go very well. She was 3-1 with a 3.60 ERA in just 35 innings and was miserable on and off the field.

“From the beginning, it was obvious that Christina could spin the ball,” UL coach Michael Lotief said. “She was really good at the rise and the screwball.

“But at this level, if you don’t develop your skills and you stay about where you’re at, you’ve got no shot.”

Last season, Hamilton fought it. When a pitch was called, she didn’t buy into it. When she didn’t pitch, she didn’t agree with the decision and she certainly wasn’t interested in picking up bats for her teammates. The constant advice from her teammates to buy into the team-first mindset fell on deaf ears.

“I’ve found over the years that the maturity comes first, then it starts to show up everywhere else,” Lotief said. “To me that’s just part of the college experience. It’s not about knocking you down really. Whether it’s academics or athletics, it’s about expanding your mind and challenging you to do better.

“When you do fail, it is eye-opening, but it should push you to get better.”

Through the struggles, though, Hamilton knows now that her teammates were there for her. Topping that long list was Natalie Fernandez, now the team’s senior second baseman.

“She would challenge me every day to buy into it,” Hamilton said. “I obviously was in self-denial.

“Now I realize that it’s not all about me. It’s not all about one person. If it was, it would be called golf.”

The turning point for the Christina Hamilton now carrying the UL pitching staff began late last spring when she finally caved and bought into it.

“I was just thinking about all kinds of things that I didn’t need to be thinking about,” Hamilton said. “All the pitchers at this level have the physical ability to pitch. That’s not it. When you go out there and you’re freaking out (mentally), it’s very hard to reach your potential."

The irony of it all is that once Hamilton finally bought in, her results changed just as dramatically as her mental approach. No longer was she worried about her outings and her statistics. Her goals and aspirations were now humble and selfless.

“Coming into this season, I had no idea that I’d be pitching this many innings,” Hamilton said. “All I was focused on was throwing BP to help the hitters, do whatever I could to help the freshmen pitchers get better and do whatever I could to help Jordan get better.”

In fact, Hamilton is convinced freshmen pitchers Smith and Alex Stewart have grown tired of getting advice from her.

“Every day, I’m telling them that if there’s anything they need to let me know, trying to remind them not to make the same mistakes I made, just anything that I can do to help them get better,” Hamilton said. “I’m sure they’re getting annoyed with me.”

More than just advice, Hamilton is now an example. When it is her turn to pitch, she’s now a perfect picture of a pitcher in a groove.

“I’m thinking a lot less now (in the circle),” Hamilton said. “I’m cooperating with the pitching-calling now, and I’m just hitting my spots so much better. Last year, I wasn’t coming close to hitting my spots.”

And she’s a much better cheerleader as well.

“Jordan’s a great pitcher,” Hamilton said. “She’s getting better and better. She’s going to get back to where she was last year, I’m telling you. You can’t get better until you fail.”

Her remarkable transformation has resulted in Hamilton allowing just 46 hits, 16 walks and striking out 85 in 85.1 innings for a pitcher most didn’t expect to be a major part of UL’s pitching plans this spring.

“We’re so happy for Christina,” Lotief said. “What’s the most fulfilling to me is not her transformation as a pitcher, but that she’s transformed who she is off the field and how she lives life.

“And her transformation isn’t done yet. I really believe that she’s going to keep getting better and Christina believes that as well.”