Dom Amore: This UConn star has become ‘powerhouse threat’ on the softball diamond

STORRS — After a fabulous freshman season, Cat Petteys grew into a better softball player and a bigger role at UConn.

But in one important way, she has not shaken off a freshman’s mindset, and doesn’t plan to do so any time soon.

“The motto I try to live by every day is ‘act like there is something to prove, always,'” Petteys said. “There is no better time to prove anything than freshman year, and I did that. Then coming into this year, I tried to reset everything in my mind as though it’s still my first year and I still have something to prove. That’s how I’ve tried to live out this season. And so far, it’s going pretty well.”

Petteys, the Big East Freshman of the Year in 2025, has made the classic leap as a sophomore, with no sign of a jinx or slump that sometimes comes with having already accomplished something special. Through 50 games she is hitting .378, leading the conference in home runs with 17 and runs scored with 52, playing better shortstop than ever, and with the Huskies she has been gathering force as the regular season winds down. Last weekend, after Petteys stroked three doubles in a victory over Creighton, the Bluejays showed her the ultimate respect, walking her four times, three times intentionally, during the remainder of the series at Burrill Family Field, UConn taking two of three.

“It’s no secret Cat is a powerhouse offensive threat,” coach Laura Valentino said. “You saw it this past weekend, where they walked her a couple of times so she didn’t have the opportunity to change the game with one swing.”

The Huskies, after winning the Big East championship and playing in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 24 years, took some losses in the transfer portal and took their lumps in the early season southern and western swings, losing 10 of their first 12 games. They were 4-15 when conference play began March 8, but gathered themselves and began a resurgence that included an 11-game winning streak.

UConn now sits 25-25, 15-6 in the Big East going into the final regular season series at Georgetown this weekend, assured of a spot in the four-team conference championship at Rosemont, Ill., May 7-9.

“One thing that’s different this year is everyone has a role, and we’ve really bought into that,” said Petteys, a political science major. “Last year, we had some dominant people and I was lucky enough to be a part of that, but we’ve bought into the 1 through 21, we have 21 players, and we’ve bought into the idea that if we’re going to win, everybody’s got a role, and everybody is going to have to do  it.”

Petteys, 5 feet 9, hit .409 last season, with 12 homers and 38 RBI at the top of a lineup that included twin sisters Grace and Hope Jenkins. Grace the catcher and conference player of the year, transferred to Arizona, Hope, a pitcher, moved on to Ole Miss in  the portal. Lexi Hastings completed her eligibility and is part of the new women’s pro baseball league (WPBL).

This year Petteys and Kaitlyn Breslin each have 51 RBI, better than one per game, to anchor the middle of a lineup that has been clicking 1 through 9, with a run differential of plus-42, a .381 on-base percentage and 60 steals in 68 attempts.

“Every single person on our team has bought into his idea that we’re going to win another championship,” Petteys said. “One of Coach V.’s biggest things, the whole time she has been coaching her, she told me when she was recruiting me that culture was her biggest thing. It doesn’t matter if you get the best athletes if they don’t buy into your culture, and I think she recruits the people first, and that’s what makes us a unique program.”

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As a matter of fact, that’s exactly how Valentino identified Petteys as a UConn-type player. When she went to watch Petteys play in a high school playoff game with Vestal High, near Binghamton, N.Y., it wasn’t the at-bats, catches or throws that first caught her eye. That passion to play every moment to the hilt, along with her powerful hitting stroke, that came with being a coach’s daughter. Petteys’ mother, Jen, has had a long career as a college coach.

“What stood out wasn’t any type of results,” Valentino said. “It was the way she ran out on the field and took her warm ups between innings. It was the intangible things, the choices she consciously makes. You watch hundreds of players and you can count on maybe one hand the number who run 100 percent out to their position. That’s a choice you make. The way she was fielding routine ground balls and treating them with intensity, she’s tackling or attacking every play, every at-bat with the same intensity.”

Petteys finished her freshman season with home runs against Creighton in the Big East tournament, and against Nebraska in the NCAA Regional at LSU. “It’s exactly what we talked about when I was coming here,” she said. “I was told that if I came in, I would be pushed to be a better player and I would be a part of something amazing and that’s exactly what happened. There’s just no feeling like it.”

In her post-season sit-down with the coaching staff, the discussion centered on her defensive play, improving her range to her backhand side. So far, she’s cut her errors nearly in half, raised her fielding percentage from .921 to .951, getting nearly as many assists (77) as she got all last season (81).

And she is still showing her coach the intangibles that matter. When centerfielder Katlyn Kibbling made a clutch catch last weekend, Petteys ran all the way out to the outfield to congratulate her.

“It just shows her determination to be great,” Valentino said. “… I would never expect Cat Petteys to show up satisfied, she’s just that type of player, that’s always hungry for more, has that chip on her shoulder and wants to go out there and prove that she’s the best, and also prove that UConn can beat anybody. She takes tremendous pride in being a Husky.”