HINGHAM – Caryn Ciampa has seen a lot in her nine years coaching softball at Notre Dame Academy.
But on Thursday, she witnessed something she had never seen before when senior captain Piper Levin became the first player in program history to record 100 career hits.
“There’s only one Piper,” Ciampa said. “There will never be somebody with the total package of game sense and softball IQ that she has.”
Entering a matchup at home against Milton, Levin knew the milestone was within sight with only two hits separating her from history.
After collecting a base knock in the third inning, the NDA dugout fell quiet with anticipation as she stepped back up to the plate in the sixth.
Levin watched a first-pitch fastball from Wildcat right-hander Kaitlyn Ahearn go by for ball one.
The next pitch was nearly identical. Same speed. Same location. Levin knew just what to do with it.
With a fluid stroke, she sent a bounding ball back up the middle into centerfield for hit one hundred.
“It’s kind of like four years of hard work culminating into a single hit,” said Levin. “It’s definitely something I’ve had my eyes on, especially since the start of the senior year.”
A career .476 hitter, Levin is hitting an astounding .564 thus far in her final campaign with the Cougars.
Of all her hits throughout her time at NDA, none stand out to her more than the very first from way back during her freshman season in 2022, when she launched a grand slam against Mount Alvernia Academy.
“You could see then she was starting to blossom into the hitter she is,” Ciampa said. “She’s just the total package.”
From a purely visual standpoint, Levin’s 100th hit wasn’t nearly as spectacular as her first. After all, it came while NDA was buried beneath a 10-run deficit.
Nevertheless, it perfectly encapsulated the kind of player she is–one who can produce no matter what the moment calls for.
“There are great hitters who can hit the ball as far as possible, and that’s great, but I think sometimes you need to be able to be adaptable to the needs of your team,” said Levin. “Sometimes you just need that small, little single, or you just need to get on base. You have to put the team’s goals above your own.”
After graduation, Levin will enroll at Georgetown University this fall. As of now, she doesn’t plan on playing softball at the collegiate level, but hasn’t ruled out trying to join the Hoyas as a walk-on either.
Until then, Levin still has three more games left to play for NDA, and she plans to make the most of them.
It’s all she’s ever done.
“I’ve been playing on this team since freshman year, and with all the extra hours of playing club, doing hitting lessons, and tee work, it definitely feels good knowing that when I put my mind to a goal, I can achieve it,” Levin said. “I finally did it, and I can walk off knowing that I did what I could out here.”
