Interview with Carteret High School Varsity Softball Pitcher Caitlyn Murray

Carteret High School varsity softball pitcher Caitlyn Murray is only a sophomore, but she has been playing softball since she was six years old. She played on the Carteret travel and recreational teams. In her first season of playing for the Ramblers, she went 6-15 as a starter. She is looking to turn that around this coming season.

“Last season was tough and a lesson for me as the youngest player and pitcher on the team,” she said, “Improving my pitching was a big deal for me. I practice all year round in a local gym where I practice my hitting, pitching and fielding. While going to a few college camps to get information on how to become a better player.”

While Murray was 6-15 on the mound, she excelled while at-bat. She was also the leading RBI hitter on the team last season, recording 16 of them. She was also second on the team with three HRs. Despite this, she still prefers one position over the other. “My favorite position when I was younger was pitching. But as I have gotten older I realized that I'm a power hitter, and hitting ever since then has always been my favorite,” she said.

Although she is a sophomore, Murray has already been looking into college and playing college softball when she graduates high school. The one school she has been looking into more than any is Duke University in Durham, NC. There’s just one problem, though – Duke does not currently have a softball team.

“I was crushed,” Murray reacted to the news, “But last year they announced they will have their first ever softball program in the spring of 2018. Finding out the news about the softball team totally changed my attitude. I have been more focused then I have ever been now that I know there is a chance to make my dream a reality.”

Murray will be graduating from Carteret High School in June 2018, which means she will be able to begin to play softball in her second semester at Duke University in the spring of 2019 if she decides to go there. She also looked into schools like Eastern Carolina University, UConn, Tennessee and Elon University. But she has her mind pretty set on Duke right now.

She visited the school over the summer on her way to a tournament. “The campus was beyond what I could have ever thought. From the dorms to the athletic departments, everything there was breath taking,” she said.

The Carteret High School varsity softball team begins their season on March 8. Murray is looking forward to show everyone what she is really made of, especially Duke University.