PLAYER PROFILE: Lauren Stefanchik '05, Softball

For senior left fielder Lauren Stefanchik, growing up in New Jersey meant several things. Featured prominently among them were her favorite sport of softball and the state’s most famous musician.

“Softball was always a huge part of my life,” Stefanchik said. “And all Jersey people have to love Bruce Springsteen.”

Honing her skills at Montclair Kimberly High School in north Jersey, Stefanchik posted numbers with national relevance, arriving at Harvard in 2001 a rare and prized recruit.

Over the course of her four years, Stefanchik set national records for career stolen bases (295), steals in a season (91), and consecutive successful steals (164). She was labeled all-state every year and was named the Gatorade Player of the Year for New Jersey in her senior season.

“I perfected slapping in high school—not many people do that,” Stefanchik said. “And if I got on base, I’d just steal second. Sometimes third.”

The concordances between the collegiate career of the young speedster and the brilliant oeuvre of the aging rocker are too striking to ignore.

In an acclaimed debut akin to the Boss’s legendary Born to Run album, Stefanchik burst onto the scene in 2002 with a rookie campaign worthy of second team All-Ivy honors. Thrust immediately into the starting lineup, Stefanchik responded by hitting .365 and swiping 21 bags.

“I didn’t know what to expect in the Ivy League,” Stefanchik said. “But it was a smooth transition and I really learned how to read defenses.”

Like Springsteen’s Born in the U.S.A. phase, Stefanchik saw more success with her second invention, a sophomore season that saw her hit .389 and steal 24 of 26 bases, only one shy of the Harvard single-season record. Those numbers, and a remarkable 14-game hitting streak, helped her claim status as a Division I All-Star.

The perceived lull in Stefanchik’s junior season is easily comparable to the quiet production and acoustic bent Springsteen featured in the 1990s. Her average dropped to .303 and she stole only 10 bags, not shabby and good enough for another second team All-Ivy selection, but off her career pace.

The lower expectations set the stage perfectly for the comeback, the resounding send-off. Just as Springsteen’s chart-topping The Rising re-established The Boss as one of the greats in rock-n-roll, so did Stefanchik reassert her gifts in 2005.

“Last year I felt the pressure and I got frustrated,” Stefanchik said. “This year, I was really relaxed at the plate. My dad gave me some great advice: to take a deep breath and enjoy it.”

This season, Stefanchik rapped out 38 hits, all singles, for a team-leading (and second in the Ivy League) batting average of .442 and stole 16 bases in 17 tries.

Despite the obvious lack of power, Stefanchik’s successful senior season did not go overlooked.

In addition to being voted Most Outstanding Offensive Player by her teammates, she was reinstated to the first team All-Ivy, named Academic All-District, and voted onto the ECAC Division I All-Star team.

“She’s our leadoff hitter, our threat on the bases,” Harvard coach Jenny Allard said. “We can generate a lot of offense from her.”

Her .370 career batting average and .403 on-base percentage are both fourth in the program’s history. Her 168 hits and 94 career runs scored both rank fifth for Harvard players all-time. Most prominent, though, is Stefanchik’s track record on the base paths. Her 71 stolen bases in 79 attempts are both school bests, records that seem supremely safe for years to come.

Nicknamed “Jersey” upon arrival in Cambridge for her distinctive geographical roots, it is a moniker and responsibility Stefanchik does not mind bearing. She let her glory days in a Harvard uniform serve notice of the rising reputation of her beloved home state in the softball world.

—Staff writer Jonathan Lehman can be reached at jlehman@fas.harvard.edu.