Career Resume
A stalwart at catcher, Campbell is the program’s lone All-American selection. During her senior year, Campbell was a first-team West Region and all-Pacific West Conference selection, helping the Yellowjackets reach the NCAA national tournament. She shares the single-season home run record (15) and holds the single-season slugging percentage record (.787) and for putouts in a single game (16). Campbell also appears in nine other statistical categories.
Feature Story: Soup's On: MSUB Cleanup Hitter Theresa Campbell Climbing Out of her Early-Season Slump (By: Joe Kusek/Billings Gazette, 4/19/2004) - Original Publication
They call her Soup.
And at the start of the year, she was ready to send her bats back.
This Soup was cold.
"Really bad,” described Theresa Campbell of her early-season struggles at the plate.
Campbell, a junior for the Montana State-Billings softball team, hit a frigid .098 in the Yellowjackets' first 14 games.
Relied upon for driving in runs, Campbell had just four RBIs and no runs scored. Not much production from the cleanup hitter in the lineup.
"It was complete frustration,” Campbell said.
A couple of factors played into Campbell's crawling start. She was flat-out struggling and compounded by batting fourth in the lineup, not seeing very many good pitches to hit.
Teams paid attention to Campbell's 2003 success.
As a sophomore, Campbell hit an MSU-B record .341 with seven doubles, also a program record. The Great Falls native earned second-team all-Pacific West Conference honors and a reputation as a clutch player at the plate.
Now the designated hitter had nothing to indicate 2004 would be a repeat of 2003.
"Everyone was really supportive. They (teammates) knew I would get out of this slump eventually,” Campbell said.
But Campbell realized change was necessary.
"I knew something wasn't working,” she said. "I had to try something else.”
MSU-Billings head coach Jeff Aumend offered a couple of suggestions. He moved Campbell from fourth to sixth in the lineup to give her better pitches to see and had her adjust her batting stance.
A straight-away hitter all her life, Aumend thought a more open stance would be more beneficial for Campbell who has the fastest bat-speed on the team.
"Initially, she was guarded about the change,” said Aumend. "The open stance is something new to fast-pitch softball.”
Campbell dropped her left foot back about six inches. That has allowed her to see pitches with both eyes instead of just one. It's also helped her handle different pitches.
"The open stance allows her to hit the inside pitch with the meat of the bat and still drive through the outside pitch,” explained Aumend.
The transformation took time. Campbell estimates it took a couple of weeks to feel comfortable with her new swing.
"It was hard because of our long road trips, we had no practices,” said Campbell. "You can't change in the middle of a game.”
When the Yellowjackets did have practice, Campbell stayed after to swing at more pitches.
Campbell started connecting again during a road trip at Western New Mexico in mid-March. She really found her groove during the Yellowjacket Invitational a week later.
Campbell had struck out 30 times prior to the home tournament - compared to 13 for all of last season - and has not fanned since.
She has warmed her batting average to .192 with 20 RBIs, four home runs and has been walked 19 times, the most of any Pacific West Conference hitter. More importantly, Campbell is batting .375 with runners in scoring position.
"Even her outs have been hard hits,” Aumend said. "She's become one of the more feared hitters in our conference. Even though she has struggled, she's one of our leaders in RBIs, which says something.”
And Campbell isn't afraid to do anything necessary for the win. Against Chico State in the Easton Tournament of Champions in California, Campbell dropped a suicide squeeze bunt down the third base side to give MSU-B a 4-3, eight-inning victory.
Campbell's bat heating up has mirrored MSU-B's own hot streak. The Yellowjackets have won 15 of 20 games prior to Wednesday's doubleheader at Northern Colorado. The Yellowjackets host Brigham Young-Hawaii this weekend.
"We knew we were a good team,” said Campbell. "We had to just keep working hard.
"Everybody is more confident now. We've found our groove. We're pretty focused now on finishing out the year strong.”
Campbell's comeback reached near completion during the four home games against Hawaii Pacific, April 10-11.
She belted two home runs, but a more telling statistic was that Sea Warrior pitchers walked her seven times, four in one game.
"Every time I was up, I would hear, 'No, no, no,' " Campbell said. "That was a confidence builder for me. But also frustrating, knowing I wasn't going to see any good pitches.
"Early in the season, I would have pitched to myself."
