Newcomer Profile: Cara Custer
October 06, 2011 | Softball
Cara Custer has allowed only one hit in eight innings this fall.
Oct. 6, 2011
by Jessika Bailey
Texas Tech Athletics Communications
Fall has officially begun and West Texans are thankful after the scorching summer and drought we endured. However, that heat attracted one student-athlete to come to Texas Tech.
Cara Custer, a freshman and Washington native, is one of the newest additions to the Texas Tech Softball pitching rotation. Custer came to Lubbock from Spanaway, a small town in Washington. She said she wanted to pitch in the Big 12 or Southeastern Conferences and chose the south for the warm temperatures.
Coach Shanon Hays said he recruited her by chance while looking for younger recruits.
"We were in Las Vegas and Coach Sartini called me over and said, `hey coach, there's a girl that I really want you to see that's older,'" he said. "At the time we were looking for 2012 and 2013 graduates, because we just didn't think there were anymore 2011 kids out there still."
That tournament, Hays said, was her first actual tournament to get exposure.
"We jumped in on her immediately," he said.
Since then, Custer arrived on campus in late August and has been working with Tech associate head coach Aly Sartini, the pitching coach, to expand her range.
"Cara is a girl that, even being a freshman, has a variety of pitches and a lot of velocity and movement to go with those pitches," Hays said. "She can keep you off balance, and then she throws hard enough to get it in on the hands of good hitters and jam them or get strikeouts. The thing she has to do a lot better and that could really make her a good pitcher in the big 12 is developing her changeup."
Custer adds another option for a Tech roster that already returns three pitchers from its NCAA Regional run a year ago in left-handers Kelsey Dennis and Brittany Talley along with right-hander Ashley Brokeshoulder.
The trio is similar in a lot of ways, so Hays said Custer will bring a different pitching style to the circle.
"It's nice that we can throw a different look at teams especially in our conference in a three-game series," he said. "We are counting on her to do well and so far, even though we are only in our second week of practice, she's right on schedule."
Through two fall dates so far, Custer has shown the pitching style Hays and Sartini hoped they would get from the freshman as she has allowed only one hit over eight innings in doubleheaders against Odessa College and Howard.
She's also struck out nine hitters during that span, possibly adding another element for a Tech staff that used its defense most of last season.
"Cara has the potential to be a very special player for us," Hays said. "She has been very impressive so far this fall, and we will be counting on big things once we get going next spring."
