In the opening weeks of the 2007 season, sophomore Christy Tinker looked like the Jumbos' breakout rookie. She was batting .500 coming back from a spring break trip to California, and with three home runs, she looked capable of leading a resurgence of power hitting, which had historically been a Tufts trademark but had taken a back seat to small-ball tactics in recent seasons.
But Tinker's bat cooled when she hit the East Coast, coinciding with a nagging back injury. She hit just .276 the rest of the season to finish at .349 - not bad for a rookie but far below the projection of her early-season fireworks.
So this year, when Tinker again returned from the West Coast with the team's hottest bat (.500, 8 RBI), all eyes were on the sophomore to see whether she could keep the heat coming.
So far, she has - to the tune of a .455 average, six home runs and 21 RBI, as of Sunday's games. Maintaining her marquee numbers, Tinker is leading a potent Tufts offense with timely hits, consistency and long-ball power from the cleanup spot.
"This year I've been working with the trainer and been a lot healthier," she said. "But a lot of it, too, is mental, just being a year better, and able to relax and see the ball."
"Now that she's a sophomore, she understands the toll that this sport takes on you physically, practicing and playing pretty much every day," junior Cara Hovhanessian said. "She's conditioned better to have that stamina, and she's not having a drop-off like she did last year."
Tinker's six home runs include one in each of the Jumbos' wins over Colby on Friday and the difference-maker in a 4-3 win over Bowdoin last weekend, both must-win NESCAC East games for the Jumbos.
"I really just try to hit the ball hard and get it somewhere on the field," she said. "If that somewhere happens to be over the fence, I'll take it, but it's not something I try to do."
Her run-producing potential is likely undersold by her 21 RBI, a casualty of batting order and some hard-hitting teammates. Sophomore Casey Sullivan and senior Danielle Lopez bat in the second and third slots, and their combined 10 home runs and 48 RBI leave fewer baserunners for Tinker in the cleanup spot.
Case in point: In the opener of the Jumbos' three-game sweep of Colby this weekend, Tinker hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning that, if not for a two-run double from Lopez on the prior at-bat, could have been the sophomore's first career grand slam.
But she'll take the runs however they come - and so will the Jumbos, winners of 12 of their last 13 games.
"Having those RBI hitters in front of me just shows the depth of our team," Tinker said. "On any other team they'd be hitting cleanup. It's no setback for me, and it's great for the team."
