Softball coach Donna Martin believes Anne Hamilton may someday become one of the best pitchers in NIU history.

Hamilton has the talent and potential to be a great hurler, she said, but that talent needs to be molded.

“The sky’s the limit,” Martin said. “She has all the tools to be as good as any pitcher we’ve ever had here.”

That’s strong praise considering NIU’s program has produced a long line of good pitchers, including senior Courtney Witvliet this year. Hamilton says she approaches pitching with confidence and a desire to improve. She started to feel that confidence her sophomore year at Iowa’s North Scott High School, which happens to be the same program that produced ex-Huskie Christy Dalton.

After struggling through a difficult freshman season at North Scott, Hamilton established herself as one of the top prep pitchers in Iowa during her sophomore campaign.

“I started to gain more confidence and my pitches started to work and everything came together,” she said. “Ever since then, I’ve just focused on softball, and I knew it was something I wanted to do.”

She continued her success through her junior campaign, helping lead North Scott to a third-place finish in the Iowa state tournament. During her three years at NSHS, Hamilton went 74-6 and also went 123 straight innings without giving up a run.

Her success caught the attention of the NIU coaching staff, and she signed an official letter of intent in October 1999. Martin, who scouted Hamilton the previous summer, knew of the hurler’s strong arm, but that wasn’t what impressed her most.

“Her skills are good. That’s a given,” Martin said. “It’s all the intangibles that make you successful at this level. She works really hard, and she cares about her performance. She wants to do whatever it takes for the team to win. That’s pretty important.”

Fate dealt Hamilton a cold hand during her senior campaign, when she suffered a stress fracture in her right forearm. Hamilton sat in the dugouts watching NSHS earn second place at State.

She sat out the Huskies’ fall season, where NIU went 7-3, but has worked hard on rehabilitating her arm, and saw some action last weekend.

Hamilton started two games but lost both contests, including a 7-2 setback to the hosts Saturday night. The freshman said she will need to rely on a wider arsenal of pitches and work on changeups, instead of relying on her strong arm alone.

She also will need to adjust to pitching at 43 feet instead of the 40 feet at the prep level. But, most importantly, Martin said, she needs to get more experience.

Hamilton looks forward to the challenge, and said her fierce competitiveness drives her to improve.

“I like the rush of being out there and having to battle against somebody,” she said.