April 21, 2007

BY TIM FLAGSTAD (tflagstad@journalnet.com) of the Idaho State Journal

Friday, April 20, 2007

A familiar song starts playing. "Throw me the ball and watch what I do wit' it ..."

The sound of "Hardball" blaring through the Capell Park sound system means only one thing -- it's Heather Dixon's turn to bat.

The third baseman settles into the batter's box, scribbles an X in the dirt in front of home plate and stares down the opposing pitcher.

It's a scene familiar to Idaho State softball fans, as Dixon goes through the same routine each time she steps to the plate.

"I think it's fun," the sophomore slugger said of her entrance tune and routine. "It just gets me in that mindset. Throw me the ball and see what I do with it."

Well, what she does is often something positive for the Bengals.

Dixon has hit nine of ISU's 19 home runs this season, leads the team with 21 RBI and her .269 average is second best on the team. She has taken on a leadership role in the Bengals' first year of competition, and coach Larry Stocking said her bat is a good barometer of how the team is faring.

"The team goes the way Dixon and (Christine) Shollenberger go," Stocking said. "If they're hitting, they're obviously scoring, but they're also sparking the rest of the lineup. When they're both hitting, we're rolling."

When building the program, Stocking knew he needed to find players who would be the right fit for the situation. He needed players who understood wins might not come easy the first year and that improvement was the main goal of the season.

Dixon fit right in.

"No. 1, she's an Idaho kid and probably the best Idaho player to come out of the state in a while," Stocking said. "You want to try to get the very best players to come to your program.

"No. 2, she really wanted to come to Idaho State."

For the Boise native, a school in her home state made sense to Dixon, especially because she hopes to teach in Idaho after school.

"Since I've been little, I've wanted to go to the Olympics, just wanted to play at the D-I level," she said. "Being from Idaho it was never really likely. We never really saw that, so being able to be in our own state at the D-I level playing teams like Texas, it's really nice."

Don't misunderstand. It's not that Dixon accepts losing. She played varsity for three years on winning teams at Borah High, earning Idaho Gatorade Player of the Year honors in 2004 and 2005. In her freshman year of college, she starred at Dixie State in St. George, Utah, where the team finished 35-11-2.

But here, Dixon had to adjust to the setbacks that inevitably come with a program starting from scratch.

"It's been hard to get used to because coming off of Dixie and high school I was used to a certain winning -- that mindset," Dixon said. "But it's been a good experience for me. It's taught me a lot of patience, and it's taught me to appreciate the game more -- just being out there and being able to play against some of the best teams in the nation."

Despite the 7-29 record, Dixon said the year has been a positive experience because the Bengals have faced some of the nations best teams like Oregon, Oregon State and Arizona State.

She's seen the improvement in the squad from Day 1 to now and has accepted that this year is more about getting better each day than wins and losses.

"The first part of the year, we didn't think we had a prayer," Dixon said. "But then I think once we started playing better teams and seeing the level of competition that is out there and where we need to be, I think it made us come together and say, `Look, we better step up our game if we want to play against these girls and compete with them.' I think that was one of the biggest changes we've had."

Dixon almost didn't have a chance to experience any of the team's growth.

Stocking seriously considered red-shirting Dixon, giving her a year to develop as a player while the program took its beatings on the field.

Ultimately, the coach decided Dixon would benefit more from facing live, Division-I caliber pitching in game situations. He has also relied on Dixon to take on a leadership role for the young Bengals.

"The one thing about her is that she's so talented that she's more of a leader by example," Stocking said. "I think her talent speaks for itself. Her biggest thing is that she's harder on herself than anybody. I always have to remind her that she's just a sophomore."

Dixon's talent and potential remind Stocking of Andrea Wilson, one of his past players and a current ISU assistant. Wilson starred for Stocking at Ricks College before moving on to Oklahoma, where she earned All-Big 12 honors two years in a row and led the Sooners to a national championship in 2000.

The difference between the two, Stocking said, is that Wilson was able to erase a bad at-bat from her memory immediately, something Dixon needs to learn.

"She needs to get better at the mental game," Stocking said, "and then the sky's the limit for her."

As for Dixon, she's just excited for the rest of this season and her next two years as a Bengal.

"Just the fact that we have the foundation now, and now we can start building," she said. "I think it's going to be a lot of fun."