ISU softball player Katie Ruby knows a little bit about going the distance after her sudden home-run binge last week.

“I guess I just turned it on,” she said. “[My swing] was feeling real good, and I just kept seeing the ball real well.”

It started with Baylor on April 12 when she blasted one over the wall. The next day she smoked two more out of the park against the Bears. Three days later against Iowa, Ruby’s fourth home run in a three-game span helped the Cyclones knock off the 24th-ranked Hawkeyes.

After just one home run last season, Ruby has a team-leading seven this year. With the season nearing the end, she still has some goals with the team.

“With the two games left against Texas Tech, we will show them that we are the better team this time,” Ruby said.

With this being her last year, she has some team goals that she believes the team can achieve.

“We can definitely get in the top half of the Big 12 standings,” Ruby said. “We want to beat some teams that we are not supposed to beat.”

Even though the ISU softball team has not had a great year in the standings, she said that it is not because of lack of effort.

“Everyone on the team has put in a lot of time,” Ruby said. “We are all doing a great job.”

Before playing catcher at Iowa State, she competed in high school at Humboldt and also at Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge.

“When you jump from the high school level to the community college to Iowa State, you have to put a lot more work in than your previous stop,” Ruby said. “I had to put more time and work in at ISU, and there is also more games to be played at this level.”

She has been the starting catcher the last two years at Iowa State.

“It seems like I have been playing softball forever, but I think that I started when I was 4 years old,” Ruby said.

She said playing behind the plate can surprise you once in a while. “When the ball hits me in the mask it feels like kind of a stinger and shock,” Ruby said.

A person might think being catcher would be hard grueling work. But she has her own feelings about her position on the team.

“The best part of being the catcher is that I get to touch the ball every play,” Ruby said. “I like being involved during the game.”