Alex Hartmann graduated from Bellevue high school in 2007 before moving on to Linfield College, where she recently received her degree in finance while helping the Wildcats to the Division III fastpitch National Championship.
A three-year starter at second base, Hartmann’s distinguished Linfield career included four selections to the All-Northwest Conference/Region team, 2009 NWC all-tournament team and NFCA third-team All American.
“Alex has been a tremendous asset to our program over the last four years as she helped lead our team to four consecutive NWC Championships,” Linfield head softball coach Jackson Vaughn said.
The former Wolverine broke the Linfield record for doubles during her collegiate career as well, crushing the old mark with 58 two-baggers during her time as a Wildcat.
Bellevue Reporter: So McMinnville, Oregon is kind of a secluded little town, how did you keep yourself entertained?
Alex Hartmann: There’s not really a big place to hang out like a mall or movie theater. We went to the beach a lot.
BR: A little different from Bellevue, right?
AH: It’s a little bit different from Bellevue, it’s not the big city with tons of people and things to do. It was a lot different, but a nice change for a while.
BR: So you won the National Championship, 51-3 record, when did all of it sink in?
AH: I honestly didn’t even realize we had such a long winning streak, we just kind of played and had fun. When our coach told us that was our record at the end of the year I was kind of in shock.
BR: What was the main factor in all of your success this year?
AH: I think it came out of hard work. Last season we finished second at the World Series. Myself and some of the seniors talked about that being our goal, getting back and winning a National Championship. We knew we had the talent and experience to win it, we just had to play within ourselves and be focused.
BR: As you were making your title run, your former team also had quite a year. Do you keep up with Bellevue fastpitch at all?
AH: I’ve been following it, my dad has been keeping my up to date and I’ve been looking in the newspaper. Coach Tracy is just a great coach and a great person so it doesn’t surprise me at all that their program is doing so well. Now that I’m back in the area I hope to follow them more closely and go to some games.
BR: Linfield loses one Bellevue alum as you graduate, but gains another with Lisa Bennett continuing her career there next year. What advice would you give Lisa?
AH: It’s a lot different from Bellevue, the high school and the city. It’s really a small town and the school is really big on building relationships like being able to conect with professors. It’s like a big family where everyone knows who everyone else is. The biggest thing is being open to new things. Softball takes up a ton of our time (four hours a day) but a lot of us were still involved in other things like sororities and volunteer work, so it’s important not to focus just on softball.
BR: What have you been up to since finishing school and coming back to Bellevue?
AH: I’m trtying to find a job, tough market though…
BR: I was watching ESPN recently and saw a professional softball game. Any chance we see Alex Hartmann on a pro diamond sometime soon?
AH: I don’t think so. My next step in terms of softball will be coaching. I’m hping to get into that once I settle down a little bit. That would be a cool place to start, helping coach Tracy if she would let me.
BR: You had a .967 fielding percentage for your career (493 putouts and assists on 510 chances according to Linfield record book). What happened on those other 17?
AH: I don’t know, I guess it was the ground, some rough hops…
