University of North Carolina Charlotte senior Lindsey Holloman has experienced some ups and downs in her softball career since starring for King’s Fork High School, but her bat has come alive in her final year of college ball.

Though she currently has about half as many at bats as many Charlotte 49ers players do, she has worked her way into the lineup with a .385 batting average, second-best on the team. During the first full week of March, she led the 49ers with five runs and batted .556, recording a double and a three-run homer among her five hits.

For those performances, CollegeSportsMadness.com named her the Madness Atlantic 10 Softball Player of the Week. Holloman described how it felt to have those games come together.

“It felt good,” she said. “I haven’t really gotten much playing (time) on the field this year, but I’ve been able to be a part of the team, stepping in. I’ve been put in for clutch situations to go hit.”

The offensive contributions so far this year have represented a renaissance for Holloman. Her father, John Holloman, who coached her with Virginia Legends Fastpitch and the Richmond Ruckus travel ball clubs, said her recent success has been, in part, about rediscovering old methods that worked.

“And also the mental approach to the game,” he said. “I think, obviously, she was getting a bit down that she wasn’t being successful. She was (the 49ers’) starting third baseman, basically, for the first two years, and she got injured, off and on, between those two, and the other kid who came in was playing well and was hitting the ball much better. So, like I always tell her, ‘You have to wait your turn now.’”

She had special instructions for her senior year from UNC Charlotte head coach Aimee DeVos.

“I was actually told that I really needed to focus on my hitting, so when I came home during Christmas break and during summer, I made sure I put the time in,” Holloman said.

She diligently practiced and studied game film with her dad to hone her skills.

The hard work helped her produce her first homer since her freshman year.

“That was nice, just to be able to step in the batter’s box and recreate that moment,” she said. “And then being that this is my senior year, it’s nice to kind of go out with having the feeling that, ‘Hey, I can still go out there and accomplish the things that I’m doing.’”

Her dad sees this offensive surge as simply a validation of the faith the school had in her on the athletic side.

“From my perspective, that’s one of the main reasons she was recruited by UNC Charlotte was her ability to hit the ball,” he said.

DeVos acknowledged Holloman’s proven ability to be a clutch hitter.

“This year, Lindsey has really gotten into an offensive groove,” she wrote in an email. “She has (gone) all out in practice and put forth tremendous effort to get herself in the starting lineup. We believe in her.”