Sunday, February 14, 2010
Freshman pitcher Alex Jones pitches during Saturday afternoon's softball game against Emporia State.
Player of the weekend: Freshmen outfielder Alex Jones. Jones played both in the outfield and pitched. She pitched six scoreless innings against Sam Houston State and knocked in six runs on six hits during the five games.
Friday
Score: No. 21 Louisville 10, Kansas 2
Score: Sam Houston State 8, Kansas 0
Saturday
Score: Kansas 10, Sam Houston State 0
Score: Kansas 4, Houston 3
Sunday
Score: No. 16 Ohio State 4, Kansas 2
While they may have been wearing Kansas softball jerseys, senior pitcher Sarah Vertelka said she didn’t recognize the team that took the field Friday.
“That wasn’t Kansas softball,” Vertelka said.
The Jayhawks lost each of their opening games by eight runs and scored a combined two runs in both contests. Kansas looked like it might have been headed down the wrong path by starting off the season 0-2, including a run-spread in the fifth inning in each game.
Kansas suffered a 10-2 loss to No. 21 Louisville on Friday before losing to Sam Houston State 8-0 later in the day.
“We were embarrassed for that game,” coach Megan Smith said of the loss to Sam Houston State. “We owed them one.”
That’s exactly what Kansas did.
Smith, who coached her first games at Kansas this weekend, told the Jayhawks they needed to put Friday’s disappointments behind them. The players listened to Smith’s message and Kansas bounced back and took out its frustrations against Sam Houston State on Saturday, shutting out the Bearkats 10-0 in the second meeting of the two teams.
Senior shortstop Sara Ramirez said it felt good to take some of the frustration out on Sam Houston State.
“Our main goal was to do the same thing that they did to us,” Ramirez said. “What was on our mind was getting revenge and playing the ball that we know how to play.”
Kansas continued its winning streak by beating Houston 4-3 in the second of two games Saturday. The weekend ended with a 4-2 loss against No. 16 Ohio State Sunday
Kansas finally managed to get its offense going, scoring 10 runs off nine hits. And the Jayhawks also received a strong pitching effort as freshman Alex Jones pitched six scoreless innings. The win helped the Jayhawks receive a lift in confidence that the team needed to finish the weekend strong.
Kansas will see action again when Kansas travels to Gainesville, Fla., to compete in the Lipton Invitational against Marshall, Florida, Campbell and East Carolina next weekend.
— Edited by Drew Anderson
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