DePaul University Athletics
Halvorson and Hocker are DePaul's Down Home Pitchers
5/26/2020 11:25:00 AM | SOFTBALL
CHICAGO - The softball field at Kirkwood Community College can be found nestled in the heart of a calm scene -- plenty of greenery and fields as far as the eyes can see. Travel to DePaul's Cacciatore Stadium and you will find quite the opposite as the third-largest city in the country serves as a backdrop for the Blue Demon softball program.
Transitioning from one of these settings to the other can bring on some intense culture shock---just ask Natalie Halvorson and Erin Hocker.
On Aug. 2, 2018, the DePaul softball program announced the addition of transfer Natalie Halvorson who had compiled some pretty impressive accolades to her resume as a pitcher for Kirkwood her freshman season.
"If you're at a smaller school like Kirkwood, hitters are going to be good," Halvorson said. "But at the Division I level, hitters are going to be the best. Everyone at this level was the best at their high school. The biggest adjustment for me at DePaul is pitching to a lineup of all the best rather than a few good hitters on each team."
Regardless of the difference, Halvorson seamlessly found her groove. In just one season wearing scarlet and royal blue, she helped lead the Blue Demons to their third-consecutive BIG EAST tournament championship and 21st NCAA tournament appearance. She picked up many personal achievements along the way including the first BIG EAST Pitcher of the Week award of the 2019 season and earning the BIG EAST Tournament Most Outstanding Player trophy.
"Winning the BIG EAST tournament and going to the Ann Arbor NCAA Regional were surreal," she said. "It was crazy to think that the previous year I was at a junior college. I felt like I was living a dream.
"I was nervous going into it because I'd never been on that big of a stage before. But being in those tough situations last season has given me so much more confidence for this season. I learned a lot last year."
Now that she has established herself at DePaul, Halvorson is helping sophomore transfer Erin Hocker make the same transition.
"I'm from Montana originally so I'm already from a small place," Hocker said. "Because of that, it wasn't a huge adjustment when I went to Kirkwood for my freshman year.
"It's funny because initially going through the recruiting process, my parents asked if I'd ever consider moving to a big city like Chicago and I said 'no way'. Once I got here, I was a little bit panicked but I have grown to love it in the few months I've lived here."
Hocker's decision to move to Chicago did not come without some convincing. Lucky for DePaul, she connected with the only other person who could understand what she was experiencing.
"It was nice because I had one person who knew where I came from," Hocker said. "I had the opportunity to meet Natalie before and saw how nice she was. It was reassuring because at Kirkwood, I was on my own not knowing anyone.
"When I was trying to make a decision regarding DePaul, I would text Natalie all the time. I had trouble leaving my team and was stuck between the familiar or coming to a new place where I didn't know anyone."
What was once exchanging phone calls and texts has blossomed into a real friendship and camaraderie.
"Being a pitcher, you spend a lot of time with other pitchers," Halvorson said. "A lot of the time there are drills that don't include pitchers so Erin and I stand on the side and chat."
And if two wasn't enough, there is a third Kirkwood connection. If it wasn't for associate head coach Joe Yegge, Halvorson and Hocker may have never found their way to Chicago.
"I've known Joe since I was in eighth grade," Halvorson said. "He was my high school coach and then my coach at Kirkwoodand now my coach here.
"Joe and I bicker a lot more than the typical player and coach because we are so close. We don't work together too much here because he works with the hitters and I work with head coach Tracie Adix-Zins. But I feel like I can talk to him about things other players might not be able to discuss.
"I know his wife, watched his kids grow up and he's seen me grow up so he's almost like an uncle to me."
Though Hocker hasn't known Yegge as long, he has made a big impact and helped her acclimate to a big-city lifestyle.
"I don't know him as well as Natalie, but he is the person that recruited me at Kirkwood in the first place," Hocker said. "He recruited me there and when he announced he was leaving, it scared me. But it ended up working out. If it wasn't for him, I probably would have never ended up here because I'm not sure if DePaul would have seen me."
The 2020 season got underway but was cut short by the coronavirus pandemic even as the Blue Demons had some very familiar goals in mind.
"A team goal for this season was for a four-peat BIG EAST title," Halvorson said. "That would be good validation for us.We also wanted to make the NCAA tournament again and advance farther. If we could win a regional, that would be amazing."
As for Hocker, she just looked forward to being a part of it all and finding her place just as Halvorson did.
"I had not gotten the full experience and had some nerves going into this season, but was looking forward to the challenge," she said. "One of the reasons I came here is to push myself and see how far we can get as a team.
"I came here open-minded knowing I might not be one of the strongest pitchers. But I can learn from the amazing athletes that surround me while working my way up to eventually reach my potential."
