Slippery Rock High School graduate and Geneva College sophomore Julia Hart hit four home runs in one week during a torrid stretch at the plate. Submitted Photo

BEAVER FALLS — Softball had gotten away from Julia Hart for a while.

It’s definitely back now.

The Slippery Rock High School graduate and Geneva College sophomore first baseman has been named Presidents’ Athletic Conference Softball Rookie of the Week and National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) Hitter of the Week for her recent performance at the plate.

“Julia had been hitting around .250 and started the season in a platoon situation with us at first base,” Geneva coach Van Zanic said. “She hadn’t played softball in a couple of years and had to shake off the rust.

“What she’s doing now, I always knew she had in her.”

What she’s doing now is tearing the cover off the ball.

Hart hit .526 (10-for-19) with four home runs, 11 RBI, eight runs scored and a pair of doubles in six games last week. Her hot bat helped the Golden Tornadoes qualify for this week’s PAC Tournament.

Before that six-game stretch, Hart had hit only one fast-pitch softball home run in her life. That came on the day the scoreboard at the Slippery Rock High School field was dedicated to the memory of her late mother.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced fall sports from the 2020 season to be moved to spring of 2021. A sports management major, Hart is also the goalkeeper for the Geneva women’s soccer team.

“Since they moved soccer to spring last year, I had to choose which sport to play,” Hart said. “I went with soccer, so that took me out of my freshman softball season.”

Geneva has a fall softball program as well, but Hart could not participate in the fall of 2021 because she had surgery to repair a tear in her shoulder in June. She wasn’t medically cleared for softball activity until November.

“That took me out of fall softball. I fell way behind,” Hart said.

She’s making up for it in a big way.

“Julia had a lot of swings-and-misses early in the season,” Zanic said. “I talked to her about shortening her swing and it’s made a difference. The biggest thing has been just getting back to playing on a regular basis.”

The weather helped her a bit in that regard. A stretch of cold, rainy days forced postponent of games to the point where Geneva had to play every day for that one-week stretch.

“That’s a good thing when you can get into a groove at the plate,” Hart said. “I found that. I can’t say I was too surprised by the home runs — maybe by hitting four of them so suddenly — but I knew I was getting close.

“I started hitting some deep fly balls that weren’t going over the fence. When the first one finally made it over, it felt like a sigh of relief. Just watching that ball go over ... I felt, ‘OK, I’ve got it now.’””

Hart raised her batting average to .325 with 22 RBI and eight doubles on the season. She is firmly entrenched as the No. 3 hitter in Geneva’s batting order.

“She is one of our middle-of-the-lineup power bats now,” Zanic said. “Julia is an outstanding hitter. That week she put together was one of the most impressive displays I’ve ever seen.

“The hardest ball she hit that week was a line drive right at the shortstop for an out. She was just locked in every game, every plate appearance. Julia has a great future with us.”