Slender Crisosto homers, lifts KU

By Chuck Woodling     Mar 14, 2007

Every time Steve Crisosto homers, score one for the Kansas University strength and conditioning staff.

“When I came here,” said Crisosto, KU’s sophomore softball shortstop, “they said I look a seventh grader who couldn’t hit the ball out of the infield.”

Crisosto struck a three-run homer off the left centerfield scoreboard Tuesday afternoon at Arrocha Ballpark to help the Jayhawks trim UMKC, 5-2, in the second game of a doubleheader.

Kansas won the opener, 8-0, in five innings as Elle Pottorf homered, doubled twice and drove in five runs.

Crisosto, a slender 5-foot-7 Californian, stroked her second homer of the season and fifth of her career in the third inning of the nightcap. No one is comparing Crisosto to school home-run record-holder Serena Settlemier, however.

“She’s not going to be a Settlemier, but she can hit ’em,” KU coach Tracy Bunge said. “She has bat speed and she’s improved her overall strength.”

Crisosto – her dad named her after singer Stevie Nicks, by the way – went 3-for-7 at the plate during the afternoon and elevated her batting average to .316 after hitting just .204 as a freshman last year.

Even better, Crisosto has plugged a hole at shortstop nicely, according to Bunge. Crisosto played centerfield last season while Destiny Frankenstein, a four-year starter, logged virtually every inning at shortstop.

“She’s looking more and more comfortable at short,” Bunge said. “Stevie didn’t even get any practice time there last year, so what she’s done has really been good for us.”

Not that Crisosto was a stranger to the position. She had played mostly short throughout her youth and high school days.

“I definitely feel more comfortable than I did last fall,” Crisosto said. “I played there all my life, and I didn’t think I’d be that rusty.”

Meanwhile, Pottorf, who didn’t play at all last season because of a shoulder injury, continued to shake off her rust by boosting her team-leading numbers in home runs and RBI to 5 and 24, respectively.

Pottorf, who developed some shoulder tenderness during last weekend’s Jayhawk Invitational, was used as the designated player instead behind the plate in the opener. She sat out the nightcap.

“I probably could have caught her in the nightcap if I needed her,” Bunge said, “but we’re trying to make sure her arm gets back on track.”

Kansas certainly didn’t need Pottorf against woeful UMKC. The Kangaroos fell to 1-17. KU climbed to 17-7-1. The Jayhawks will travel this weekend to a tournament in Sacramento, Calif.

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23978Slender Crisosto homers, lifts KU