Leading Off With Jacquelyn Beatty

AMES, Iowa - Each week Cyclones.com will bring you inside the Iowa State softball program by asking at least five questions to one member of the team. This week's featured student-athlete is Jacquelyn Beatty, a junior from Austin, Texas. Beatty is fifth on the team with 19 runs batted in.

Cyclones.com: You came to Iowa State from McLennan Community College in Waco, Texas, where you earned first-team North Texas Junior College Athletic Conference honors. What do you feel are the biggest differences between that level and the Division I level?

Beatty: The biggest difference between the two would have to be the competition. At the Division I level you have upperclassmen and underclassmen, the pitchers in Division I know how to hit most of their spots, have more speed and are very confident. At Mclennan, we were a Division I junior college, but there would only be competition between four teams and the others were not very strong. I love the competitiveness of the Big 12 and coming from JUCO I feel I can play with them.

Cyclones.com: You hit your first career homer in your first career at-bat. What do you remember most about that at-bat? Were you at all surprised to knock it out of the park in your first plate appearance with the Cyclones?

Beatty: My first homer as a Cyclone felt amazing. I remember having one ball on me and the next pitch was inside, kind of high, which is just how I like it. I turned on that ball and it just went. I wasn't really surprised because I had that feeling when I hit it, that it was going to be deep or gone, and it was gone.
What I was surprised about was it being my first at-bat. I had tons of confidence in myself, I knew we were going to have a great weekend.

Cyclones.com: What is the most memorable moment of your softball career to this point?

Beatty: I have a lot of great memories, but I would say the one that comes first to my mind was last year as a sophomore at McLennan going to the regional tournament in first in the conference. To win the tournament, you just have to win three games and we had that in our mind. We won the first on Friday and the second one on Saturday was against our rival Temple. On Sunday we had to play Temple again and they go to the JUCO World Series every year. It was our time though. We ended up winning and I have never been so happy to beat someone and to earn so much respect for our school. We ended up going to Florida having a blast!! The JUCO World Series was awesome.

Cyclones.com: When choosing a school, why did you decide to attend Iowa State?

Beatty: I remember after my last game as a Highlassie at the World Series, I was crying and talking to my parents and a man with a yellow hat and red shirt came up to me. The first thing he said was 'your mom has the wrong shirt on'. It was a Texas Longhorn shirt she was wearing. We all laughed and said we were from Austin, Texas. I talked to Coach G a couple days later and worked things out to come on a visit. I came on my Visit to Iowa State in June and I fell in love with the campus. It's beautiful and that is always how I dreamed college looked like. With people riding bikes and jogging on campus. I knew this is where I wanted to be. Also all the school traditions made me so excited. I called her a couple days later and told her I wanted to be a Cyclone!

Cyclones.com: What are your plans for the summer?

Beatty: I have some great plans for the summer. I am going to attend summer school at Iowa State for the first part. After that I'm going to leave and go home to Texas and hang out with my family. I'm going to work and save up some money. I'm also going on a 12-day cruise to Alaska and I'm so excited for that. I'll try and spend a ton of time with my little brother because he means so much to me and being up here I only see him twice a month. He's getting so big. Then I'll be back in Iowa in August to finish my last year.

Cyclones.com: You are a communications studies major. Any thoughts on what you want to do when you finish your coursework at Iowa State?

Beatty: I ask myself everyday what I want to do with my life. I always dreamed of going to dental school and now I do not think that is what I want to do. I kind of want to get in sales, maybe pharmaceuticals. Part of me wants to coach as well. I have tons of options, but time is running out and I need to decide quickly. You never know, I could go to graduate school!