Softball today: vs IUPUI and Lamar

[psycHOGlogist]

Another two games, another two wins. Neither was a blowout, run-rule type of win, but both were solid wins over teams we should beat.

We defeated IUPUI 7-2 behind decent pitching from Storms (though she was not as dominant as she has been). She continues to be victimized by questionable defense, though, and gets saddled with unearned runs (only 1 of the Jaguars' 2 was earned). Canfield, Schroeder, and Diaz had multi-hit games and provided the offense, and Allison Stewart came in and pitched the last two innings and did a great job.

In the night-cap, we needed a come-from-behind effort to beat Lamar 9-4.  Moll just didn't have her good stuff, and we fell behind 3-1 (in large part due to some wildness from Moll), but Warrick came in and provided EXCELLENT relief pitching and shut Lamar down while we scratched our way back and then exploded for 6 runs in the 4th inning to put it away. Canfield, Hiers, Diaz, and Yannetti had mult-hit games, and the late run (top 7) that Lamar put up was just an afterthought. Nice win.

A couple observations:
1) Fantastic to see Canfield and Diaz start to get hot. They've been hitting around .250 so far, but they are clearly starting to feel it this weekend, and their averages are rising considerably.

2) Last year, we would have lost the game against Lamar because we would have had to either leave Moll in to struggle, or replace her with an inadequate reliever. This year, we have more effective relief options, and it's making a big difference.

Our last game of the tournament is tomorrow at 12:30 CT in a return match against IUPUI.

[psycHOGlogist]

Also: If we beat IUPUI, we will (for real this time, not like I incorrectly said before lol!) TIE the win total from last season: 17.  We are likely to finish below .500 in conference play (maybe quite a bit below - our conference schedule is very tough), but this is a fantastic turnaround from last year. This team is much improved and a lot more fun to watch.