By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Staff Writer
On X @GDsullysays
Before every pitch Hammonton ace Gracie Ravenkamp delivered to the plate during her senior season, she took her stance inside the circle and stared down at her right forearm. It’s a movement seen all over high school softball fields, as pitchers get the sign from their coach or catcher and look down to see what it corresponds to on their wristband — which is usually worn on the pitcher’s glove hand.
Except, Ravenkamp didn’t wear any wristbands when she pitched. She was looking down at a single word, blazoned onto her skin in the form of a tattoo in her father’s handwriting. It reads, simply, “CONFIDENCE.”
It’s a subtle reminder, Ravenkamp said, that no matter what is happening around her, if she focuses in on her talent and the hard work she put in to get where she is today, she can find a way to be successful. It’s like a built-in reset button, right there on her forearm.
“Most of the time when I went to the circle it was just to say, ‘believe in yourself, you’ve got this.’ She’s harder on herself than any coach could be, and I think (the tattoo) reminds her of all the hard work she’s put in and knowing that she has the ability to do well,” said Hammonton head coach Eric Shulman. “When you’ve had success your whole life, and now all of a sudden you face some adversity — any human being is going to have moments of self reflection and doubt. And I think that was kind of her reminder, like, I’m here for a reason. You know, let’s get the show on the road.”
“It says, ‘confidence’, and it’s something that I constantly look at and constantly allows me to keep going. It’s actually written in my dad’s handwriting, so it plays a big part in my heart. He’s always been there through my whole softball experience from when I started when I was 5 years old. And he’s still cheering me on as I’m going to college. It’s just a little reminder that there are going to be bumps in the road and stuff doesn’t always work out, but it’s going to be OK,” said Ravenkamp, who recently finished up a stellar career at Hammonton and plans to continue her softball career and education at Shenendoah University in Winchester, Va., this fall. “I always had a focal point on my glove that I would constantly look at as something to allow me to reset myself. Like, let’s take a step back. Maybe I should have been out of that inning, maybe there was an error in the field, but it’s OK. I wanted to put that on me in a permanent way, that confidence is something everyone should have. Confidence is something that, even in tough situations, just take a step back, take a breath and pause for a minute. We’ll get out of it one way or another.”
Things didn’t always come easily for Ravenkamp. She broke onto the scene as a freshman, and even though she had an outstanding season as a hitter, she still struggled to fit in as a 14-year-old on a mostly veteran team that was coming off a sectional championship season.
“Freshman year was definitely challenging,” she said. “My goal was to just make varsity, that was my No. 1 goal. I knew that a lot of the positions were primarily taken, I was just doing my best, putting 100 percent out there and giving it my all. I was definitely grateful enough to be given an opportunity to start freshman year. I was given opportunities in the lineup and it was great.”
She hit .383 that year, racking up 23 hits, 26 runs scored, 18 RBIs, 10 walks and six stolen bases. That was a harbinger of things to come, as she hit .316 for her career with 85 hits, 68 runs scored, 54 RBIs, 28 walks and 20 stolen bases. She only pitched seven innings that year, though, and got knocked around, to the tune of a 9.55 ERA.
“She came to us in 2022 as a freshman and we were coming off a fantastic year in 2021 and, for the most part, had everybody back. But you could tell right away she was a good player, it was just a matter of where she was going to fit in. She was a middle infielder and pitcher by trade, and after four or five days the coaching staff, we kind of looked at each other and said we had to figure out where we could get her on the field. We asked if she had ever played first base and she said, ‘yeah, when I was about 11.’ So she played there as a freshman and things only got better from there,” Shulman said. “Physically, she was just 14 years old. Mentally, I think she was OK, but that’s a big jump when you’re a 14-year-old kid pitching against 17- and 18-year-old women. It’s rare that you have a freshman come in who can be a standout inside the circle. She didn’t throw many innings that year, but then April Lewandowski graduated, and we knew when Gracie was in the circle she was going to give us everything she had. I can’t remember too many times I had to pull her out of a game because she was getting hit around. Her focus was always to go seven innings and give us a shot to win the game.”
Ravenkamp had to overcome some adversity sophomore year, too, as the Blue Devils were in the midst of a rebuilding year and she took over as the No. 1 pitcher. Her offense took a hit, as she batted just .185 in 54 at-bats, and she had the highest ERA of her career — still a respectable 3.60. Ravenkamp said she had to learn how to get through that adversity early in her career, and that ultimately led to the “confidence” tattoo.
“It was a little overwhelming. I was still a sophomore, I had only been there for one year. I had watched (the previous pitcher) evolve. I wanted to see if I would ever be able to fill her role, if not make it bigger,” she explained. “That year, I was given the opportunity to throw consistently and it was tough mentally, if I’m going to be honest. But I knew that was just the beginning of something that would be much bigger.”
The Devils went 8-13 that year, then struggled through a 6-19 season when Ravenkamp was a junior. She put a lot more work in during the offseason leading up to her senior year, and showed she was ready, as she won eight of her first 11 starts, including a 10-strikeout performance in a 12-0 win over Holy Spirit, a sectional semifinalist in Non-Public B.
“My confidence has grown. Sophomore year, I was still a baby and was trying to understand my defense behind me. I had to trust that if a ball was hit in the gap (my fielders) were going to bust their butts and be able to get to the ball instead of allowing runners to advance to extra bases. I feel like this year really allowed me to look back at my defense and be like, hey, they have my back and I have their back, and we’re going to be able to get through it,” said Ravenkamp, who said she plans to study exercise science in college. “You have a short time in a season, but it was awesome to see how much of a connection the girls had. My senior year, everybody was so close, so much like a family. I feel like a big part of that was making it happen in the beginning of the season rather than waiting until midseason, hoping there would be a connection.”
“She’s an interesting kid. (Off the field) she’s just like she is on the field, very driven. She’s hard on herself because she expects so much of herself. I don’t want to say she puts pressure on herself, but she knows what she’s capable of and, if in her mind she feels like she’s not living up to that, she can be tough on herself. This year, we saw her loosen up a bit. As a freshman, she listened twice as much as she spoke because she was the new kid, but every year, a little more, she opened up. She got to the point where she enjoyed all parts of the game and it was fun that she got to show she wasn’t all business, all the time,” Shulman said. “One thing you worry about with pitchers is, when they are throwing a good game and there is a ball in play that should be an out (but is an error), how are they going to respond? This year, as a senior who has put in as much time and done everything she’s asked to do, Gracie earned the right to be upset. But at no point was she ever like that. One of the things we, as a coaching staff, were so proud of is Gracie is the ultimate competitor. If you try to run for her when she gets on base she gives you the death glare.”
Shulman said he’s proud of the progress Ravenkamp made during her career, both on and off the field. He said she became more at ease with showing her personality on the field and in the dugout as she progressed through her high school career.
“Last year, we were young and struggled and we put a lot on her plate because of her experience. (In the offseason) she worked her tail off and she came in that first day in March and she looked different, physically. She put in a lot of work and it was awesome to see the jump she made,” Shulman said. “To see a kid achieve the things she did as a senior, that’s one of the things that makes you smile and say, ‘here’s a kid who played as a freshman, look how hard she worked and over the course of four years, look where she ended up.’ Shenendoah is going to be an awesome fit for her. I think she’ll do really well there.
“Gracie is a little hard around the edges, but she just wants to win,” he continued. “There were a couple times this year when our 3-year-old came to the game and she’s on the field playing with Gracie. She has that competitive side, but there’s that other side where she’s a caring person. She’s just a really good kid.”
Being able to bond with teammates, coaches, opponents, fans — that’s what Ravenkamp said she loved most about high school softball.
“I’ll remember that the most, the connections that we made. At the beginning of last season we ended up making vlogs (video blogs), and that might sound silly — and, don’t get me wrong, they were silly — but I feel like stuff like that was something everybody looked forward to,” she said. “I had 200 strikeouts (during my career) and made All-Conference my senior year, and those are nice things, but I wouldn’t be able to do those things if it wasn’t for my team behind me and if the girls I played with weren’t so connected.”
If things ever start to go sour at Shenendoah for Ravenkamp, she has “confidence” she can get through any adversity. All she has to do is look down at her forearm.
“I probably should have gotten the tattoo sooner,” she said. “I feel like there’s something every pitcher should definitely have to allow them to take themselves down from 100 miles-per-hour to zero and reset.”
