Bethany Balucan-Batangan might not look like your typical softball player but the pint-sized pulverizer of pitchers has dominated her competition at nearly every level, from youth and high school, to college, where she just wrapped up her freshman season for
Bethany Balucan-Batangan might not look like your typical softball player but the pint-sized pulverizer of pitchers has dominated her competition at nearly every level, from youth and high school, to college, where she just wrapped up her freshman season for the Olympic College Rangers.
Standing at only 4-foot-11 and 3/4 inches tall Balucan-Batangan, a Konawaena graduate, showed off her confidence, speed and power — yes, power — while leading Olympic College, a two-year school, to a berth in the Northwest Athletic Conference tournament.
“I was pretty surprised by my play and power numbers this year,” Balucan-Batangan said. “I haven’t really grown since seventh grade but I like to round up and tell people I am 5-feet.”
The season did not start well for the Rangers, who quickly saw themselves fall to a record of 1-12. However, behind Balucan-Batangan, Olympic College rallied, finishing the regular season with a 21-21 overall record and 15-5 conference record.
“The chemistry just wasn’t there at the start,” Balucan-Batangan said. “But then we got a new pitcher (Rachel Ranyak) and we started to believe in ourselves and completly turn the season around.”
The 20-9 record down the stretch propelled the Rangers into the NWAC tourney. The Rangers grabbed the No. 16 seed for the league tournament, but went 0-2 with losses to top seeded Bellevue (41-8) and Walla Walla (29-20).
“No one would have ever thought we would make it to the playoffs after our start,” Balucan-Batangan said. “It was pretty cool to make it as a freshman. Only the top two teams from each conference get to go. We just didn’t give up.”
Balucan-Batangan was outstanding all season long, putting up some impressive numbers, while also surprising herself and her teammates with a little pop off the bat. Balucan-Batangan led the Rangers in runs (48), triples (7), walks (19), stolen bases (15) and most surprisingly, home runs (7). She hit .385.
The mutli-tooled Balucan-Batangan was even more dominating in conference play where she hit .530.
Her most impressive stretch came near the end of the season. In a one week span in early May, Balucan-Batangan hit .714 with two home runs, three doubles, three stolen bases and 11 RBI’s. Her play led to four wins and the honor of being named the NWAC Player of the Week.
“I was actually sick for one of those games,” Balucan-Batangan said. “I was just trying to play relaxed and not do too much.”
Balucan-Batangan has been an athlete all her life. She started in second grade playing baseball because there was not softball team around. She also cheered and competed on a flag football team.
“I remember making a pact with my cousin that we would go and tryout for coach-pitch baseball,” Balucan-Batangan said. “My cousin bailed but I somehow stuck it out.”
When Balucan-Batangan reached the seventh grade, softball suddenly became available through the RBI program, and the young Big Islander made the switch, but it wasn’t an easy transition.
“It was pretty hard,” Balucan-Batangan said. “Playing second base, I was used to staying back to field the ball but in softball the bases are shorter so I had to be faster. It was also pretty tough to find my timing at the plate and also get use to an underhand pitch instead of overhand.”
While difficult, the transition was successful and Balucan-Batangan went on to reach the World Series all four years she played.
“The RBI coaches really helped me become the player I am today,” Balucan-Batangan said. “They pushed me and allowed me to experience much higher levels of play. It really opened my eyes as to what else was out there, something not a lot of people from Hawaii get to experience.”
Balucan-Batangan entered high school at Konawaena where she quickly worked her way into a starting roll as a freshman. The new Wildcat showed her versatility early on. She played multiple positions throughout her four-year career, including pitcher, shortstop, second base and the outfield.
High school was going pretty smoothly for Balucan-Batangan, who earned a BIIF first-team nod in both her freshman and sophomore seasons.
However, between her sophomore and junior year, Balucan-Batangan was injured in a very scary accident in which the car she was riding in flipped over. Everyone in the vehicle managed to escape with no serious injuries, but Balucan-Batangan banged up her shoulder.
“The accident is something that I will never forget,” Balucan-Batangan said. “It happened so fast but it seemed like it was in slow motion.”
Despite a badly bruised shoulder, Balucan-Batangan, a right-handed batter, refused to miss any playing time. She stepped into the other batters box and hit left handed — something that seemed nearly impossible.
“The switch was acutually by (RBI) coach’s idea,” Balucan-Batangan said. “I didn’t feel comfortable for a long time. I always felt like I was doing something wrong because I didn’t know what the right way felt like.”
Learning to hit just from one side of the box can take even the pros a lifetime to master. Balucan-Batangan managed to completely overhaul everything she knew in just one season. By the end of her junior year, she had claimed her third all-league first team honor.
Balucan-Batangan continued to roll in her senior season, picking up her fourth first team selection. She also helped the Wildcats reach state in three out of the four years she played, which is what she remembers most about playing at the high school level.
“Bethany is a hard worker and never gives up,” Konawaena head coach Shellie Grace said. “She always tries to do her best even if she is struggling. She gives 110 percent in every game and every practice. She is also excellent in the classroom.”
With one more year to play at Olympic, Balucan-Batangan is hoping to make it back to the playoffs once again.
“We are losing a big part of our lineup, but we have a lot of freshmen coming back” Balucan-Batangan said. “Hopefully the chemistry will stay in tact and we get get of to a pretty decent start this time.”
Balucan-Batangan is starting to make plans for her transfer to a four-year college, but nothing is set yet. She is currenlty majoring in business management.
