Technique: How did you first get into softball?
Rudnik: I got into softball probably because my older sister and both my older brothers played softball and baseball, so it has kind of been like a family thing. I started when I was six.
Technique: How did you end up at Tech?
Rudnik: It happened around my junior year in high school when I was getting recruited. Tech was definitely in my top three choices. There was a tournament here in Georgia that I played in and actually did really well, so the coaches asked me to come on a visit over the summer and offered me then. I thought about it for a week, but I knew after going on my visit that this is where I wanted to be. And I knew a couple of the girls here, so overall it was just the right choice for me.
Technique: What is your major and why did you choose it?
Rudnik: Business. Coming in, I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do, but after I got here and they showed me the business school and just the more I looked into it, I knew that’s where I wanted to be. I really enjoy it, I’m in Operations Concentration and I love what I’m doing there. I don’t know what that’s going to look like for the future, but I really do like the degree I’m getting here.
Technique: Did you look at other schools when you were deciding where to play (sport)? Which ones?
Rudnik: Other ACC schools like NC State, FSU, and UNC.
Technique: What is your favorite softball memory?
Rudnik: There’s a lot of good ones. I would say probably the ACC Tournament Championship we won my sophomore year here in 2012. We just ran through the tournament. We beat Virginia, FSU and then we beat Virginia Tech in the championship. None of the games were really close; we just ran through them, and it was awesome.
Technique: Do you plan on playing softball after Tech?
Rudnik: I don’t know. I was actually talking about that with one of my teammates the other day. I would definitely consider playing professionally in Europe or something. I don’t know about professionally here, but I would love to go to Europe for a couple of months and play there.
Technique: How do you prepare in the off-season?
Rudnik: A lot of hitting and a lot of individual things. Especially since I don’t always have the team with me in the summer and fall, it’s a lot of individual work, focusing on fundamentals and breaking things down, a lot of stuff in the weight room, getting stronger. Also getting my mind right for the games and stuff like that.
Technique: What are your hobbies outside of softball?
Rudnik: I play guitar. It’s a nice stress reliever for me. I like Colbie Caillat and slower mellow songs to play. I like to play some country songs too and I write some of my own songs too. One of my friends and I from high school play together [and record ourselves for our YouTube channel] AEMusic91.
Technique: Do you have any role models?
Rudnik: My parents have just been an awesome example of how to love someone and encourage them, especially when it comes to softball. I would not be where I am without them. I think sometimes they love softball more than I do, which is a lot, and they’ve just always been there to encourage me.
Technique: What’s your least favorite thing about softball?
Rudnik: I wish we could just warm up for like thirty minutes and then play. We always have a two hour warm up period and I get antsy; I just want to go play. So that’s the biggest thing, if we could just have a really quick warm up and play.
Technique: What is your proudest softball moment?
Rudnik: Probably being a part of the regular season championship that we won my freshman year and my sophomore year’s ACC tournament championship. Just being a part of those teams was pretty awesome.
Technique: What are your expectations for yourself and the team this year?
Rudnik: We definitely want to be on the top of the ACC. We have that ability and that’s definitely our focus right now. Even beyond that I really want us to get to a Super Regional; that’s one of the things that the seniors and I have been talking about. We’ve been here for four years and that’s one of the things that we haven’t done yet. Especially for us to leave our mark on the program, that’s something that we want to do. And since we have new coaches this year, [we want to] leave a foundation for the teams to come, setting our standard of hard work ethic and passion.