Before she was a Shocker, Wichita State senior infielder CC Wong hailed from a family of softball players.
“My family has been a part of the fast pitch/softball world since I was born,” Wong said. “My cousin played softball; my dad played softball; my uncle played softball, so I was just like born with a softball in my hand and a bat.”
Wong has been on a softball field since she was 4 years old and has played for different teams in the United States and in her hometown of Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada.
When Wong was a senior in high school, she moved to the Delta Heat just outside of Vancouver, but she wasn’t able to play any games with the team due to COVID-19.
Before landing at Wichita State, Wong started her college softball career at McLennan Community College in Waco, Texas, as a pitcher during the 2020-21 season and a third baseman/pitcher the following year.
Wong then moved to Phoenix, Arizona, to attend Grand Canyon University for a year before entering the transfer portal and moving to Wichita State.
“I had to make my decisions from a few schools,” Wong said. “As soon as Wichita State called, I just knew that it was the place for me, and I loved it. As soon as I flew down and visited, it was just such an amazing place.”
Wong had an outstanding season for the Shockers, being recognized as American Athletic Conference player of the year. She slashed .476/.571/.888 at the plate with 14 home runs, ranking second nationally in batting average, third in on base percentage and ninth in slugging.
Wong received three AAC player of the week awards throughout the season and was penciled into the leadoff hitter spot nearly every single game.
Outside of playing for Wichita State, Wong fell in love with the City of Wichita as a whole.
“I’m not a big-town person,” Wong said. “So Wichita is just perfect enough where I can kind of get that feel if I wanted to (go) downtown, but then also kind of have a private life and an individual life.”
Wong will be graduating with a degree in general studies with an emphasis in sociology this spring.
“I wanted to do… physical education, but then when I went to (Grand Canyon), it didn’t work out where I couldn’t graduate in time,” Wong said. “I didn’t know much about sociology, so I wanted to try it and learn, and I love it.”
Wong said that she loves helping people and thinks that sociology is a good way to learn how to do so.
“I love learning about … the world problems and social problems,” Wong said.
Junior infielder Krystin Nelson said she sees Wong as one of the most important presences that the team has seen in the program.
“(Wong) has honestly just been like a light to this team, and you can see that on the field, too,” Nelson said. “On the field, she is such a calming, like, reassuring person … she’s just someone you can always look to and be like ‘We got this.’”
Nelson admires Wong’s ability to still have fun with the sport every day.
“I feel like once you kind of get to this level of softball, it kind of becomes more of, like, a job, like something we almost have to do,” Nelson said. “(Wong) is the first person in a while that I’ve seen that plays the game for the love of the game.”
Softball head coach Kristi Bredbenner said Wong is a “joy” and is the same person on and off the field.
“She’s a really genuine person,” Bredbenner said. “Always willing to help — bubbly and outgoing personality. I’ve never met a stranger I felt like could go into any type of room and create any kind of conversation and really impress a lot of people with just her ability to make friends and how nice she is.”
Bredbenner said that Wong has been very open-minded and optimistic about her abilities and has done everything the team has asked her to do.
“At the end of the day, her love for the game has grown again and kind of rejuvenated her,” Bredbenner said. “(She’s) finding ways to get the best out of her swing, and she’s kind of an unorthodox lead-off, you could say, but she’s done an awesome job in that lead-off role for us.”
