Friday, March 14, 2008
Spring break may be coming up for The University of Kansas’ student body, but the softball team will stay busy playing a total of nine games over the break.
The Jayhawks host Buffalo and Louisiana Tech in the Kansas Invitational this weekend. They also play a doubleheader against Bradley Tuesday and start off the conference season on the road against Oklahoma the following weekend.
The Jayhawks are without starting junior catcher Elle Pottorf this weekend. She was injured in the second game of last weekend’s tournament.
breakbox
Games during spring break today: vs. Buffalo* at 3 p.m. vs. Buffalo* at 5 p.m. Saturday: vs. Louisiana Tech* at 2 p.m. vs. Buffalo* at 4 p.m. Sunday: vs. Louisiana Tech* at 12:30 p.m. Monday: vs. Bradley @ 3 p.m. vs. Bradley @ 5 p.m. Friday: @ No. 8 Oklahoma @ 7 p.m. 3/22: @ No. 8 Oklahoma at 1 p.m. *Kansas Invitational game
Rankings from ESPN.com/USA softball poll
The team finished with three victories and one loss in that tournament. Coach Tracy Bunge said the one thing the Jayhawks could have done better over those games was short-game execution.
“That obviously was something that came back to bite us pretty hard on Monday,” Bunge said.
Bunge said the team was focusing on being aggressive at the plate and taking advantage of opposing pitchers’ mistakes. While Bunge was not completely happy with the offense, she was glad to see some players come out of slight slumps. Bunge said she was pleased with the performances of senior first baseman Addy Lucero, sophomore right fielder Ally Stanton and junior shortstop Stevie Crisosto. Bunge said they seemed to be starting to get hot with the bat on offense.
Junior pitcher Valerie George was also a big factor over the weekend, pitching a 10-inning complete game against Pittsburgh.
“Val was definitely running out of gas in that game and did a great job of digging down deep to finish that Pitt game and throw 10 innings,” Bunge said.
George said that this Jayhawk pitching staff was very much a collaborative act. She said one pitcher may throw three innings and then another would come in and throw four innings.
“I think that as a pitching staff, as a whole, we’ve just worked really well together. It’s just really exciting to see that we’re doing better than a lot of people expected us to,” George said.
George said that having games over spring break would make it easier for the team to focus on softball. George said that focus would be needed, too, as the Jayhawks play one of the best teams in the Big 12 Conference in Oklahoma.
“It’s going to be a busy week. The good news is they don’t have any school next week,” Bunge said.
George said the team continued to grow as a team throughout the season.
Junior third baseman Val Chapple steps into her throw to first base after fielding a ground ball. Chapple threw her out at first and was 1-2 at the plate contributing one run during the Jayhawks 9-1 routing of the Sycamore’s Saturday afternoon.
“People have done a great job of just stepping up in different roles,” George said.
Bunge said the Jayhawks needed to work as a team to execute in the short-game aspect and sophomore pitcher Sarah Vertelka needed to continue to get back up to full strength for the team to have success in the games over spring break.
—Edited by Jared Duncan
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