As Christina Khosravi is learning, college softball is different with a target on your back.
Khosravi, a junior shortstop, had a season to remember last year, earning Ivy League Player of the Year honors with a .407 batting average, .607 slugging percentage and five home runs.
After last year, however, more will be expected out of Khosravi, both by her team and by the competition.
"I suspect that she's going to have to be very, very patient at the plate," head coach Leslie King said. "Coming off the year she had last year, a lot of teams are going to look to pitch around her. She's going to have to just display a little bit more patience and maturity at the plate."
"For our program and where it was when I came in and to see two kids get such an honor, it really speaks volumes for the work that they have done," King said, referring to Khosravi and junior Annie Kinsey. "Those kinds of awards don't come easily."
She was also named onto the Louisville Slugger/NFCA Division I Mid-Atlantic Region Second Team.
Khosravi is also proud to win the award, noting that it was a great honor being compared to other players in the region that had the opportunity to play against big-name softball schools, like Michigan and UCLA.
Because she is an upperclassman on the team, her teammates will look to her as a leader. Khosravi, however, is ready for the added responsibility.
"I think I bring a little bit of experience from the past both fielding- and hitting-wise," she said. "I think I can show confidence in my game [that] exudes confidence in other players."
Khosravi does her best to remain humble.
"There's always room for improvement . and I'm going to keep pushing myself," she said.
Like most athletes, she started off by playing different sports at a young age. But softball became her calling.
She played it all throughout middle school and high school, while also participating in a travel team.
"Softball is just the type of game where you could always be good if you push yourself," Khosravi said.
And push herself she did. Even when she was young, she would go to the backyard and work on her swing and throws with her dad.
"She's obviously got a lot of natural talent and she works as hard as anyone on the squad," King said. "She wants to get better all the time."
Khosravi gives a lot of the credit for her solid fundamentals to her travel ball coach.
With the Ivy League shaping up to be a "toss-up," as she puts it, she'll need them.
