Lisa Huntington

Barry Faulkner

With world conflict providing an underlying urgency to her daily

routine, West Point junior Lisa Huntington wasn’t about to stress out

over an early-season hitting slump.

So, even when her participation on the Black Knights’ successful

softball team wasn’t as statistically rewarding as it could have

been, the Newport Harbor High product always viewed her time on the

diamond as a coveted escape.

“Softball is a relief here,” said Huntington, who has been giving

opposing pitchers little relief during a late-season surge that

continued through Monday.

In an 11-game stretch that began April 17, the three-year starting

first baseman has 12 hits in 34 at-bats, with three home runs, nine

RBIs and six runs. Having hit safely in all but one of those games,

Huntington has lifted her season average to .248. Her four home runs

are tied for second on the team and she now has 13 RBIs, after

averaging 22.5 her first two campaigns.

“Every since Spring Break, I’ve been hitting the ball hard,” said

Huntington, whose confidence sustained her when the hits weren’t

coming early on.

“The first couple weeks, I wasn’t even hitting the ball hard,” she

said by phone from West Point, where the Black Knights have won 18 of

20 to improve to 25-18, 15-5 in the Patriot League. Army has clinched

the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament they host, beginning

Saturday. “But I didn’t change anything. Once I started hitting the

ball hard, I knew I would relax and everything would fall into place,

which it has.”

Huntington’s recent hot streak, including three homers in a four

games against Lafayette, helped her earn Patriot League Player of the

Week recognition, it was announced Monday.

With Huntington, whose 23 RBIs last season led the team, back in a

groove, Army is primed for another Patriot League tournament title

and its second trip to the NCAA tournament since Huntington arrived.

“We won the [league] tournament my freshman year and went on to

win the first NCAA game in the program’s history,” Huntington said.

“This year, I think we have a good shot to win the [league]

tournament. This is the strongest team I’ve played on here.”

Huntington said softball has given her strength to survive the

demands of West Point.

“Softball ranks right at the top of my experience here,” she said.

Huntington said she had never considered attending a military

academy until she received a recruiting letter the fall of her senior

year at Newport Harbor. Her commitment to West Point took on a

different tone soon after she arrived as a freshman, with the events

of Sept. 11, 2001.

The environmental engineering major -- with a 3.0 grade-point

average -- said she waffled before signing her postgraduate service

commitment in August. But she is glad she gave at least five years to

the Army, after graduation, and she looks forward to attending flight

school this summer.

“I think I’ve matured a lot since I came here and I have a much

different perspective,” she said. “I know I’ll be in Iraq in two

years. Ever since the war started, I think everyone here takes their

training a little more seriously. We all know we’re going to war.”