If Candace Slaw were two or three inches taller, she might not have ended up here. At least not as an All-American softball player, anyway.

Slaw was a three-sport athlete in high school and good enough to be all-state in each. Her favorite was volleyball, but there aren't many 5-foot-9 middle blockers at the collegiate level.

Eventually, she came to realize that softball would be her ticket. And she most definitely has punched it.

A junior center fielder, Slaw has had a hit in 79 of her 86 games. She's had multiple hits in 47 of them. Her career batting average of .503 is 59 points ahead of anyone else in program history with at least 200 at bats.

"There's a reason why really good players are really good players," Captains coach Keith Parr said. "Most of the time they have good work ethic and high expectations of themselves. She has the ability to compete within the moment and not press too much.

"She can lay down a bunt for a hit. She can slap, and she can hit away. It's really hard to pitch against her and it's really hard to set the defense with what she can do."

As for how Slaw ended up on Parr's roster, call it a bad break turning into a good one.

The summer of 2023, just before her senior year at Rappahannock High, Slaw broke her left wrist in a travel ball tournament. Several college coaches were there, including Parr.

Instead of writing her off after the injury, Parr reached out.

"Coach Parr comforted me and was like, 'It's all right,'" she said. "He told me to go get an X-ray — I didn't want to because I don't like going to the doctor. I ended up having surgery and he checked up on me every single day, even through PT.

"That really stuck with me when I chose CNU because I knew he was going to be there and that he really cares about us on a personal level. It's really nice to have a coach who is there for you."

Slaw grew up in an athletic family. Her father, Mike, played baseball at Ferrum College. Her mother, Regis, was a high school cheerleader. And her older sister of five years, Meredith, played five seasons on Virginia Tech's softball team.

Candace said she learned plenty about the game from Meredith, who played on four NCAA tournament teams with the Hokies, including two Super Regionals.

"Didn't always want to listen to her growing up," Candace said, "but she really helped me a lot."

Candace and Meredith grew up as natural right-handers, but Mike had both learn to hit from the left side. For slap hitters, that can get you to first base as much as three-tenths of a second faster.

In Candace's freshman season at CNU, in which she batted .476, 65 of her 69 hits were singles. A good hunk of those were slaps. She led the team in stolen bases (39 in 44 attempts) and runs (43).

In her first at bat as a Captain, Slaw gave a glimpse of what to expect. She singled up the middle, stole second, advanced to third on a throwing error, and scored on a fielder's choice.

Just what you want from your lead-off hitter.

"I've been leading off probably since I started playing travel ball in the older age groups," Slaw said. "I'm used to it. Sometimes, I don't like it because of nerves. But I like starting it off because I get to hopefully get on base so my teammates can hit me around."

As a sophomore, Slaw branched out with 25 of her school-record 77 hits going for extra bases. She batted .517 and scored 64 runs (two more school records) in 43 games and was named first-team All-American by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association.

"She still had a lot of growth and development offensively to do as a freshman, but it exceeded what I was projecting her to do in year one," Parr said. "She made a pretty good jump offensively from her freshman to last year, and I think it's just going to continue."

Slaw is 6-for-8 in two games this season — 3-for-4 in each. The second game against Methodist was something of an anomaly in that she didn't score but drove in three runs from the leadoff spot.

Off the field, Slaw is majoring in communications with a minor in psychology. Set to graduate in the spring of '27, her current plan is to get into social media. She's hoping to land an internship this summer.

Whenever she has free time, Slaw still wants to be with her teammates.

"Our team is really close," she said. "Even though we spend every day together, most of the hours of the day, we all like to hang out. That's really nice being with them, and not just on a softball level."