This weekend’s Jayhawk Fall Invitational softball tournament was a rollercoaster ride for the Jayhawks, but it was one that ended with a winning record of 2-1 to start the fall season.

“We anticipated to have a rollercoaster ride today, which is exactly what we got,” coach Megan Smith said. “We knew it’d be up and down and it was.”

The Jayhawks lost to Emporia State 6-5 before returning to beat the University of Central Missouri 7-6 Saturday afternoon.

After Saturday’s games, Smith said she challenged the team to stay focused on each pitch and to keep every play intense during Sunday’s coming game against Washburn University. It was a challenge, she said, that the team readily accepted. The Jayhawks shut out Washburn for a 7-0 victory Sunday afternoon.

“Yesterday was exactly how I thought it would be, and today they answered back,” Smith said. “It looked really good today. Obviously we still have some things to work on but this weekend was a great opportunity for us to see them in action, see them in different positions and see how the freshmen respond to the college-level game.”

Smith said freshman infielder Mariah Montgomery and freshman pitcher Alex Jones especially stood out to her during the weekend games.

“Not knowing at all what college ball is like until you finally step on the field wearing that Jayhawk jersey, it’s just like, a completely different atmosphere,” Jones said. “So these games, even though they’re not against conference teams or anything, it’s just the experience that helps in the long run.”

Smith said the tournament was more about preparation and having fun than anything else. She said that it allowed freshmen to take what they had practiced and apply it in a live situation and that it also allowed returning players to get used to playing with a new lineup.

Montgomery said she was glad to have had the opportunity to compete in this weekend’s tournament to release some of her nerves about playing at the collegiate level for the first time.

“Right when the last out of the game before ended she came up to me and goes, ‘Are you nervous?’ just shaking like crazy,” Jones said of Montgomery. “But you obviously couldn’t tell by the way she played.”

Montgomery, who sent a ball soaring over the left field fence for a home run during the seventh inning against Washburn, said she was looking forward to next weekend’s tournament, the KU Fall Invite.

“Next weekend we’re going to come out no nerves, everything’s good, everything’s new,” she said.

The Jayhawks will play host to Johnson County Community College, Butler County Community College and Cowley County Community College at the KU Fall Invite Oct. 10 and 11.

— Edited by Amanda Thompson