Sports

Softball experiences slow preseason start with tie and rescheduled game

By Jon Fuccillo

The Lady Saints have started the year 3-2-1 with high hopes of a great season.

“We have a great group of girls this year, who I think can go a long way in making a run for NWAACCs. But we need to take it one game at a time,” said head coach Meadow McWhorter.

The team had been off a week when they took on Concordia University in a doubleheader Tuesday. Their Saturday game against Grays Harbor CC was postponed. “The girls from Grays Harbor had too many players with illness, so we rescheduled the game for March 20, which was too bad since the weather was so nice out that day,” said McWhorter.

This gave the team a lot of time to prepare Concordia University Tuesday at Delta Park. In game one they played to a nine-inning 5-5 tie. “Since this was considered a scrimmage game for Concordia, they didn’t want to play more than nine innings,” said McWhorter. “We as a team considered this tie a loss since we were winning the entire game and made a few costly mistakes that weren’t in our favor.”

In game two the Saints won 8-6 and were led on offense once again by Boise State-bound Kathy Cox, who hit her fifth home run of the season. “She’s only played in five games and she has five home runs, which is exciting,” said McWhorter. Freshman Brittani McArthur was the winning pitcher and freshman Lauren Hadenfeld came into the game in relief and got a save.

“I was completely impressed with my girls. They played so well as a team,” said McWhorter. “The communication was excellent; the players were talking in between every pitch. Concordia has a very good program but as a team we played better ball. Plus this was a great opportunity to let our freshmen get a feel for the game since we are so young as a team.”

The team really seems to be getting a feel for the game and getting comfortable during their first six games of the year. “Without a doubt our team is really starting to come together and play very well as a team,” said McWhorter. “They are starting to realize what a family-oriented program this is. Communication is the biggest part of this team, both on and off the field. They are starting to realize it’s us versus the opponents.”

McWhorter said practice is the time to work on fixing mistakes. “This team overall has so many positives, we don’t reflect on the negatives. When we make mistakes in games, especially this early in the season, we as a coaching staff know we need to cover those mistakes in practice,” she said.

This weekend the team travels to Richland, Wash., to play in two double-headers on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, the team will face off against Spokane CC at 12:30 p.m. then play Shoreline CC at 2:45 p.m. for their first day of action. On Sunday, they play Blue Mountain CC at 12:30 p.m., then play South Puget Sound CC at 5 p.m.

“We want to take these games one at a time this weekend. We have no set starters on the mound,” said McWhorter. “But we’re excited about our pitching staff because there is so much diversity between them all. This weekend our plan is to go out and attack on offense and really smash the ball.”

McWhorter said the girls need to get in position for a NWACC title. “This year we want to put ourselves in a good position for winning the Southern Region and then the NWAACCs,” she said. “This team is very savvy compared to years past, especially in comparison to last year’s team. We need to maintain consistency throughout the entire year and learn from our mistakes and we will do just fine.”