Where Are They Now: Cristin Vitek

Everybody who witnessed Baylor pitcher Cristin Vitek’s performance on May 20, 2004, couldn’t believe what they were seeing. She set an NCAA record by striking out twenty-eight batters in sixteen innings to lead the Baylor softball team to a 1-0 win over North Carolina in the program’s first NCAA regional game in school history.

“It just seemed unreal,” Vitek said. “Nobody talked to me during the game because they thought they’d jinx me.”

Vitek finished her career ranked third in school history with seventy-four wins with a program-best 759 strikeouts and a 1.41 earned run average.

She returned in 2008 to throw out the first pitch before a game for a different reason. Earlier that year, she survived a life-threatening experience after getting bacteria in her bloodstream.

“My organs shut down because of the bacteria, and I was in a medically induced coma,” Vitek said. “It was definitely a life-changing experience, and I’ll be forever grateful to the Baylor family for helping me to pull through.”

After receiving her accounting degree from Baylor in 2006, she plans to graduate soon from Texas Chiropractic College in Pasadena.

“I remember how chiropractors helped me when I was pitching, and I want to make a difference for other people,” Vitek said.