IC Catholic Prep alum Gabby Curran playing well at the collegiate level for Domincian.
By Mike Miazga
Correspondent
IC Catholic Prep alum Gabby Curran is off to a red-hot start on the softball diamond.
Curran, now a sophomore second baseman-outfielder for Dominican University in River Forest, recently was named the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference position player of the week for the March 6-12 timeframe.
Curran hit safely in nine of the team’s 10 games during the span. She had three games where she had three hits each. Curran hit .552 in those games and had a .667 on-base percentage. She also had four extra-base hits including a pair of home runs (.897 slugging percentage) as the team’s leadoff hitter. She also walked nine times, while striking out once and stole seven bases without getting caught.
Curran’s hot hand helped Dominican close out its first undefeated spring trip to Fort Myers, Fla. The team went 12-0 there.
“This year the team set the goal of going undefeated in Florida,” she said. “We stepped up our game in general. We did everything we could to get on base and score runs.”
Through late last week Curran was hitting .460 (second on the team) with 23 hits in 50 at-bats in 16 games. She has two doubles, two triples, the two home runs and nine RBI. She’s slugging .700 and has 10 walks and nine stolen bases.
“I’ve worked a lot on my hitting,” she said. “I worked on hitting a lot outside of school with my hitting coach and with my dad two or three times a week. Any extra work I could get in I did.”
Curran said having a year of college softball experience under her belt has made a huge difference.
“I’m a lot more confident this year,” she said. “Being a sophomore this year I know my role as a leadoff hitter.”
And Curran is embracing a new role on the other side of the coin as a catcher.
“Learning how to be a catcher this year has helped me out a lot,” she said. “You learn to pick up things like what type of pitches are coming and what sequences coaches call.”
Curran said the catching opportunity came about after a player withdrew from the school. “Coach said would you be interested in catching and I said sure,” she said. “Wherever the team needs me to play is where I’ll play. I learned how to catch and I’ve started maybe 13 games there. I was a little unsure about it at first. But after going back there and taking in what I was taught, you let your athletic ability take over. Once you do that it’s kind of a normal position.”
Curran enjoys the hustle and bustle of the position. “I really like that you are involved in every play and you take on a leadership role in general,” she said. “You are out there calling where the ball is. It’s one of the most important positions out there.”
Curran threw out a pair of runners trying to steal in Florida.
“That was pretty cool,” she said.
Curran who has hit four home runs in her collegiate career now, said she’s having a blast playing at Dominican.
“I like it a lot. I really enjoy playing college softball,” she said.
In the classroom, Curran is a biology major with a concentration in health science. “I’m going pre-med and (will) hopefully be a doctor.”
Last year, Curran was named a NACC scholar-athlete for maintaining a grade-point average of 3.25 or higher for the academic year.
