Shortstop Kelsi Hoopiiaina in a game on April 5, 2012, against UCLA. Hoopiiaina and the Utes have six non-conference losses — which matches their total for all of last year.
File Photo Madeline Smith / The Daily Utah Chronicle

The start of the season hasn’t been as successful as Utah would have hoped.

The Utes already have six non-conference losses — which matches their total for all of last year — and has been inconsistent in both weekend tournaments.

But there is reason to be optimistic.

Utah put up a season-high 19 hits against UNLV in the Easton Desert Classic. In the previous game, the Utes only allowed Long Beach State five hits and one run — both season bests for Utah. The explanation for Sunday’s performance might come down to a meeting set up by the players to refocus and turn around the season, said head coach Amy Hogue. The momentum from those games might come into play this upcoming weekend.

Today Utah will travel to Palm Springs, Calif., for the Mary Nutter Classic where its first opponent will be former conference foe Colorado State. On Saturday, the team will play a doubleheader against Long Island University Brooklyn and Nevada. Finally, the Utes will finish the weekend in another doubleheader versus Ohio State and Cal Poly.

Because of Utah’s inconsistency, the motto “plug into each other” was adopted for this week. Each player will write down what she needs to do and what she is going to bring to the rest of the team. The player then will give those promises to another player in order to hold each other accountable.

“We’ve shown that we’ve been inconsistent,” Hogue said. “We are going to do a better job of plugging into each other and making sure everybody understands their role and is supported in their role really well to see if we can gain some consistency this weekend.”

There haven’t been problems on the physical side, Hogue said.

“What we’ve been inconsistent in is our effort and our attitude and our support of each other,” she said. “Those are all controllable things.”

Hogue seems to be right on target. The teams Utah has lost to are far from national powerhouses — only one team Utah has lost to has a winning record. In the majority of the losses the simple answer is the Utes have not been able to produce runs early, which puts pressure on pitching and defense.

Utah will need runs -and lots of them- in order to have a successful weekend. This year’s team is built to score, and without runs, the team struggles. Utah has only one loss when the team has scored five or more runs. However, the Utes only have one win when they scored less than five runs. Shortstop Kelsi Hoopiiaina thinks the reason for the lack of run production comes down to a simple factor.

“I think that our biggest problem is that we are passive right now,” Hoopiiaina said. “We’ve got to be aggressive and go after strikes … If we are aggressive I think we’ll be way more successful this weekend.”

The start of the season was not what the Utes were expecting. However, Utah seems to have turned the corner and found a new passion that wasn’t there before.

“I’m excited about playing CSU and Nevada again because we’ve lost to both of the teams, and I’m looking for redemption,” Hoopiiaina said.

After a three-hour rain delay, and another eleven minute break in the fourth inning, Alabama staged a comeback that will surely go down in Crimson Tide history, using a four-run fourth inning to beat the Oklahoma Sooners 5-4 and win the national championship for the first time in school history.

With Alabama trailing Oklahoma 3-1 in the bottom of the fourth, the umpires called time on the game after Ricketts threw a series of wild pitches that advanced Alabama sophomore Kaila Hunt from first base all the way home.

During the delay, the Sooners sat solemnly in their dugout, waiting on the drizzle to pass, while the Tide players danced and cheered, firing up the stagnant Alabama faithful that had made the trip to Oklahoma City.

That was all the inspiration the Tide needed, which came storming back as soon as play resumed.

Senior Amanda Locke sent a double to left field that scored senior Kendall Dawson, then junior Courtney Conley doubled up the middle to score Locke and tie the game. It looked like the inning would end when senior Jazlyn Lunceford hit a routine groundball to the shortstop, but a throwing error scored Dawson and put the Tide ahead.

“That rally was incredible,” Murphy told ESPN’s Holly Rowe after the game. “That’s the story with this group. They never give up.”

Alabama right-hander Jackie Traina capped her historic season with another bend-but-don’t-break performance in the circle. Traina, who was named the Women’s College World Series Most Outstanding Player, pitched all seven innings, allowing four earned runs on just five hits. She also struck out six and set the school record for strikeouts in a season.

The fourth-inning rally proved to be the turning point in a game that Oklahoma dominated from the start.

The Sooners struck first and struck often, starting with a solo home run from Ricketts in the second inning. In the third, Lauren Chamberlain hit a two-run shot that put the Sooners up 3-0 and appeared to shatter the morale of an Alabama team that entered the game with a sharp focus.

But the brief delay seemed to ignite the fire put out by the early scores and proved to be the difference in the winner-take-all game three.

The Tide added an insurance run in the fifth inning on an RBI single from Traina. Oklahoma hit a solo home run in the seventh to bring the game within one, but Traina, as she has all year, regrouped and struck out the next batter to win the championship.

To many women, these words are followed by a feeling of joy and relief; but what if you’re a 20-year-old college student who has never had sex? To Emily Roach, these words did not strike a feeling of happiness, but rather feelings of fear, panic and confusion.

On Aug. 3, 2010, Emily was on her way in for a routine shoulder surgery, a side effect of being a star softball player. The hospital requires that prior to any surgery, all women undergo a pregnancy test. Since she had never been involved sexually, she thought nothing of it—simply one more test before she could have her much-needed shoulder surgery.

But the news she received from that test would change her life forever. After her urine test, the lab technician returned to Emily and asked if there was any chance she could be pregnant.

“I laughed in her face,” Roach said. “I had never had sex and was on birth control at the time. It didn’t even cross my mind.”

Her mother, a retired nurse, was able to get Emily into the gynecologist immediately. She took a blood test, which also showed that she was pregnant. In the back of her mind, Emily was going over the possibilities.

“How could this happen? Was it possible? Was I raped? I couldn’t understand how this was possible,” Roach said.

Wanting answers, the doctor went over the only possible scenarios.

“She said either you’re pregnant, or you have a tumor,” the softball player said. Obviously, not the two scenarios she wanted to hear.

Distraught, Roach went home. She would have to wait two days before taking more tests to determine which of the two scenarios it was.

After the second round of blood tests, Roach received the bad news. She recalls, “They said that I wasn’t pregnant, but that I would have to wait another week to come back and take more tests to see if my HCG levels had gone down.”

HCG is the hormone that indicates pregnancy, but it can also indicate if there is a tumor present within the reproductive system.

After another week, Roach returned to the hospital for yet another round of tests. Her HGC levels had not gone down. After another two days, she went back to the gynecologist and underwent ultrasounds and CT scans. These tests showed that she had a cyst on one of her ovaries—not uncommon for a woman of her age.

She was scheduled to have surgery to remove the cyst from her ovary. However, during the operation, the doctor realized that the cyst was too tangled up with her ovary to remove it. Her entire ovary had to be removed.

A week later, Roach returned to the doctor for her follow-up exam.

“I didn’t really understand what the doctor was saying,” Roach said. “I thought he said I might have cancer, but he was really telling me I had cancer.”

Her mother called the doctor for clarification. “My mom found out on a Thursday, but felt so terrible about it she didn’t actually tell me until Sunday,” Roach said. “That was the only day I was really upset.”

After more waiting, she was sent to an ovarian cancer specialist. He told her that she had gonadoblastoma, a rare form of ovarian cancer. The doctor told her that if this form of cancer manifests in one ovary, it usually infects the other one as well.

Roach had to prepare herself for the fact that she might have to have her other ovary removed, meaning she would be unable to have her own children.

“I was upset,” Roach said. “I don’t want to have kids now, but I’ve always wanted to have kids of my own someday.”

She was also told that she may have another, more fatal form of cancer. If this was the case, she would have to begin chemotherapy immediately.

Once again, Roach had more tests. This time, they came back with more positive results.

“The doctor told me that he thinks it is a less dangerous form of cancer,” Roach said. “Since he caught it so soon and took the whole ovary out . . . everything [might be] okay.”

After several weeks of tests, waiting, more tests, and more waiting, good news finally came. She still has a long road ahead of her, with second opinions, third opinions and bi-annual checkups and tests, but for Roach, the worst is over.

“At first, I didn’t really believe him,” she said. “I didn’t believe it could just be that easy.”

For now, Roach can concentrate on school and softball, as she has for the past four years. It will be a trying time for her as she continues to see doctors and specialists, but her resilient spirit and her faith in God will undoubtedly pull her through.

Emily’s last month has been a harrowing experience. Her strength and perseverance is an inspiration to everyone who knows her and to anyone who hears her story.

“She’s the best pitcher we’ve had in our softball program,” DSU Sports Information Director Dennis Jones said. “She’s responsible for a lot of success in our softball program. She’s very deserving.”

Delaware State announced the induction of 13 former Hornets, athletes from multiple sports Aug. 23. The DSU Hall of Fame class of 2010 will be introduced at an enshrinement ceremony Oct. 29 at 7:00 p.m. at the Sheraton Hotel and Conference Center in Dover, Del.

“It’s a really great honor,” Savage said. “I worked really hard in my career. It’s really nice that people have noticed that I’ve been trying to pave the way for Delaware State University. I’m really excited for the banquet to get to see everybody and to be a part of it.”

Savage spent two years pitching for the Hornets and by the time she was done, she was Delaware State’s career pitching leader in strikeouts, earned run average, shutouts and saves. Savage still holds Delaware State’s school and MEAC records with 323 strikeouts in her career, 185 in a single season and 17 in one game.

In addition to being DSU’s career pitching leader, Savage also earned two selections to the Academic All-American Team. Both Savage and Brown were members of the All-MEAC and All-Mid-Atlantic Region Teams.

Her most dominant season came in 2004 when she ranked 20th in the nation with 8.6 strikeouts per seven innings pitched. That same year, she ranked 24th nationally, with a 0.98 earned run average.

One of her favorite things about playing at Delaware State was getting the chance to play for her father, Jeff, she said. She enjoyed that her mother got to go to every game, as well, and she was happy to be so close to home.

“Having my family there being able to see me play was one of my favorite things there,” she said. “They watch me coach now, but it’s still not the same.”

Another thing Savage enjoyed about her time at Delaware State was the small state environment and the positive support she got while playing there.

“It’s a small state so when you’re in the newspaper a lot of people know what’s going on,” Savage said. “They really follow sports, and it helps you to realize how much of an impact that a student-athlete can make on the university by showing well in games and in the newspaper and bringing positive press to your school.”

In 2005, Savage became the first Delaware State female athlete to sign a professional sports contract when she went overseas to play professional softball for one season with New Bologna, who play in the Italian Federation League.

Before joining UNF last season, Savage worked at Bowling Green where she mainly coached pitching, a position in which she was so dominant, but she also assisted in every aspect of the team.

“She has been a big asset to our team here at UNF,” said UNF softball head coach Marcie Hickey. “It’s a great accomplishment for her.”

The sophomore All-American underwent successful surgery three weeks ago and is expected to participate during fall practices with the softball team.

“I’ve been recovering really well,” Majam said.

On July 19, she was diagnosed with papillary thyroid carcinoma and on July 27, she underwent surgery and her entire thyroid was removed. Another biopsy was done and confirmed the mass was cancerous.

A 1.6 cm lump was removed and it was determined that the cancer had not spread to the lymph nodes.

During the winter break, Majam will undergo iodine radiation treatment in her hometown Pine Valley, Calif.

She has started taking a thyroid replacement pill that she will have to take for the rest of her life.

When asked what kept her going, Majam pointed towards her faith.

“I get my strength in the Lord and I know He’s with me through all this,” Majam said. “This definitely was a testing point for me and my family, but He was with us through all of it and he definitely is with me now.”

Majam had a standout freshman season for the ’Bowsas she helped the program to its first appearance in the WCWS in June. She led the nation with 30 homeruns and started all 66 games.

Taylor, who was named in mid-May to compete on the USA Futures team in the 2010 KFC World Cup of Softball, couldn’t wait to step on the mound.

But at her first sight of the stadium, the senior saw the Women’s College World Series Championship banner congratulating UCLA on their National Championship and immediately felt a pain in the bottom of her stomach.

“Pulling up to the stadium for the first time was hard,” Taylor said. “There (was) UCLA Champions 2010 stuff everywhere. I didn’t think it was going to be difficult, I didn’t even think about it.

“But it definitely put a little fire back in me, if there wasn’t already one, to really get back next year. Everyone knew that we really missed a golden opportunity with last year’s team. I think it will kind of kick us in our butts a little bit to get back there.”

Taylor took it upon herself to ignite the fire for next season’s Wolverines team by putting her talents on display for the USA Futures team. The Futures team — comprised of the best current collegiate softball players from around the country — took third place in the competition, with a 3-4 overall record.

The competition featured the USA National team, the USA Futures team and all-star teams from Canada and Japan. With little time to practice and facing all-star lineups on tap each night, Taylor had to quickly get comfortable with new catchers and the defense behind her.

In the Futures’ first game against Canada, Taylor got the nod to pitch the seventh inning and was credited with her first save of the competition, as the team beat Canada 5-4 on July 23.

Taylor was also the starting pitcher in the team’s first game against the USA National team the following day and kept the best professional softball players in the United States on their toes before surrendering the loss, 1-0. In the loss, Taylor only gave up three hits while striking out four.

“When you’re facing teams like these, you can’t miss a pitch,” Taylor said. “It really brings the competitive drive out of me. It opened my eyes a little bit to exactly what I could do and what I would be able to do, which is keep one of the best hitting teams to one run. It just gave me a little bit more confidence in my abilities.”

The right-hander also tossed the third-place game of the competition, as the Futures secured third place in the World Cup with Taylor’s complete game performance. She struck out seven batters in the 9-3 Futures’ victory on July 26.

“I’ve always had a competitive drive, but I think it was upped a little bit more after playing with this team,” Taylor said. “I (saw) that I could compete in international play against some of the best players and against teams that have been playing together for up to 10 years … It definitely showed me that I need to start being my own pitcher, and that I don’t need to constantly be like other pitchers and use their strategies.”

The hurler pitched 16 total innings and finished the tournament with a team-best 1.69 ERA in four games. Taylor gave up eight hits and three earned runs and only one home run, while striking out 11 and walking just three.

The 2010 KFC World Cup of Softball marked United States’ ace pitcher Jennie Finch’s retirement from professional softball — a departure that was filled with memories and sadness from USA National and Futures team members alike.

But with Finch finished competing for the USA, the National team’s pitching situation has drastically changed. Taylor has already recognized the possibilities the future could hold if she stays focused on her game.

“The national roster is extremely difficult to get on, and now that Jennie Finch retired there is a buzz about who is going to be the new pitcher,” Taylor said. “The pitching spots are always competitive. There are girls who have been on the border (of securing that spot) for a couple years now. You have to be on your game and do well, and playing for the Futures has given me more motivation to do (my) best.”

Now imagine how difficult it would be if your older sister had smacked the game-winning three-run home run in the 2005 Women’s College World Series, bringing Michigan softball its first national championship in the program’s history.

While Samantha Findlay will always have that title-winning at bat associated with her name, her younger sister, senior Angela Findlay has met the challenge and wasted no time in making a name of her own in the Michigan program.

Angela admits that having her older sister Samantha already playing at Michigan “helped (her) out” once she arrived, but make no mistake about it — Angela paved her own path to Ann Arbor.

The path she chose began with a minor detour, as Angela was an infielder in high school but was recruited to play in the outfield at the college level. While she called the transition from second base to right field a “difficult adjustment,” it is a position she has played with pride for four years.

Angela’s ability to adapt to any situation is just one of the reasons why she was named Michigan’s captain for both her junior and senior seasons. But leadership was something her older sister Samantha had already taught her a thing or two about.

Samantha served as captain of the Wolverines during her senior season, when Angela was a sophomore. While both Findlay sisters have tallied time as leaders, their approaches were not identical.

“Angela leads by example,” Samantha said. “She does her job, and she does it quietly by working hard every day. She goes out and does what she needs to do and she loves it.

“I think her biggest asset is that she is just confident in (the captain’s role) and she likes to have fun. People look up to her and she is a leader that everybody follows afterwards.”

Softball runs in the family

Natives of Lockport, Illinois, the Findlay sisters have played softball since grade school. But Angela’s recent graduation from Michigan and departure from collegiate softball isn’t the end of competitive softball for the sisters — this time they will both take the field as members of the Chicago Bandits professional softball team.

“Not many sisters and not many siblings can say that they’ve played softball with their sister at every level possible,” Samantha said. “We played together in grade school, too. In high school we won a state championship together … Not many people can say that they’ve played with their siblings for as long as I have. I think that it (has) definitely been an honor, and we’ve become best friends from it.”

Being best friends and teammates for as long as they can remember, it isn’t surprising that Angela and Samantha chose the same college. But while the sisters would be in college at the same time for two years, Samantha didn’t want to heavily influence her sister’s decision.

Samantha — a first baseman — went on one visit before immediately committing to Michigan, but didn’t want her sister to feel like she was forced to be a Wolverine.

“(Angela) was doing her recruiting and I just told her it would be awesome if we played together,” Samantha said. “But I said ‘I want you to go to a school where you think you want to go and make an impact.’ We’ve spent all our lives playing together, but we are two different players.

“The biggest thing that I told her in her decision was that I wasn’t going to be there for two years at Michigan and had that been the choice that she wanted, that she would have to be there on her own (after I graduated).”

But Michigan ended up being Angela’s choice and she had made peace with the fact that she would be the only Findlay in the program for her junior and senior seasons.

“Obviously (Samantha) was here, but it was something where my parents and her, no one ever really said anything once (Samantha) made her decision to come to Michigan,” Angela said. “Samantha made her decision and I was going to make mine no matter what.”

Competitive from the start

With Samantha already at Michigan and ready to show her sister the ropes, Angela immediately worked to take her game to a competitive college level. Settled into her new outfield position, Angela hit a career high .367 and led the team with 10 multi-RBI games as a freshman in 2007.

Angela was named to the All-Big Ten first team and to the National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-America third team, quickly proving to her coaches and teammates that she wasn’t content to simply rest in Samantha’s shadow.

“(Angela) has never really lacked for confidence,” Michigan coach Carol Hutchins said. “But her confidence has really become better and better, even when she’s not having her best game. When you watch Angela play, you don’t really see the difference between her good games and bad games, in her demeanor.”

A sophomore in 2008, Angela was a unanimous selection to the All-Big Ten first team and named to the Academic All-Big Ten team after hitting .426 during Big Ten conference play.

That same season, Angela showed that she shared the same affinity for late game, high-pressure situations as her sister. Angela led Michigan to victory in the NCAA Super Regional opening game by driving in the winning run against
Virginia Tech.

“(Samantha) and (Angela) are different as day and night,” Hutchins said. “But even though their style is different, they are similar in their approach. They are always about the ‘next pitch.’ (They have) been so integral to our success here over the years.”

And Angela refused to let her foot off the gas pedal as a junior. During her first season as a captain, Angela was again named to the Academic All-Big Ten and All Big-Ten first teams and hit a career-high 13 doubles.

Angela noted that her junior year was one she will never forget, as Michigan advanced to the WCWS for the first time since her sister secured the Wolverines’ title in 2005. While Michigan dropped out of national title contention with a loss to Georgia, the experience of playing in Oklahoma City with such high stakes is one she will take with her forever.

“Winning that game (in the NCAA Super Regional) and getting to go to the (Women’s College) World Series… that was what we all came here to do, what people expected us to do,” Angela said.

“It took us a little bit longer than most people expect, but we learned a lot of things along the way … We learned that nobody gives you anything, you have to earn everything.”

As a senior, Angela used Hutchins’ ‘one pitch softball’ mantra and the experience of the WCWS to help her arrive at a .350 batting average with 14 home runs and 53 RBI, and a .663 slugging percentage.

“Regardless of how she starts, she just keeps plugging away,” Hutchins said. “And this is a game where you really have to preserve and work at every pitch in the game. Mentally it’s very taxing, especially over the grind of our season. I think (Angela) has just gotten better and better at that. She’s one of the best I’ve ever coached.”

It isn’t over yet

Even though Samantha was no longer a member of the Michigan squad during its 2009 WCWS run, Samantha was available to help her sister during all four years of Angela’s collegiate softball career. The bond that the Findlay sisters shared both on-and-off the field helped them cement both their names into Michigan softball history.

“I know for me personally, I definitely look up to (Angela),” Samantha said. “I know not many people think that you’re going to look to your younger sibling for confidence, but I look to her because she has been around me and the sport (for so long). She knows a lot about our games and a lot about our swings, and I look to her for confidence and guidance … She definitely has helped me when I’m in a slump and she’ll look at me and we’ll laugh or we’ll smile and she’ll be like, ‘Sam, just have fun,’ and we’ll play really well.”

While Samantha and Angela Findlay will be read about in softball record books and talked about by their former coaches and teammates at Michigan for years to come, the duo looks to continue their past successes in their future professional softball careers.

On the field — this time as Bandits — the sisters will once again help each other reach their potential, as Angela, in right field, will always have her sister’s back at first base.

On Thursday, Blevins announced her retirement after spending the past 31 years coaching the Indiana (1980-87) and Iowa (1988-10) softball teams to national prominence.

Junior left fielder Jenny Schuelke said Blevins called the team before making an official announcement.

“She called me [Thursday] afternoon and told me that she had decided to officially retire,” Schuelke said. “She wished me the best of luck with my senior year and that she was contacting the players first so we wouldn’t have to hear it from someone else. I was very surprised.”

Blevins’ 1,245 wins are the second-most of any coach in NCAA Division I history, and she never had a losing season. Athletics Director Gary Barta must now find a replacement for the person he labeled a “living legend”; he said in a release that it will not be an easy task.

“The University of Iowa must now replace a true living legend in the sport of women’s college softball, a professional in every sense of the word who built the Hawkeye softball program into one of the nation’s very best and did it with style, grace, and confidence,” Barta said. “Gayle’s shoes will be very, very difficult to fill. The void will be great in many ways including many that go far beyond the softball diamond.”

Blevins arrived at Iowa following a successful eight-year stint at Indiana, and quickly turned a struggling Hawkeye program into a national power. The team won its first Big Ten championship and appeared in its first NCAA Tournament in 1989.

Under Blevins, the Hawkeyes won five Big Ten regular-season titles and two Big Ten Tournaments, with 16 NCAA Tournament and four College World Series appearances along the way.

The first World Series was in many ways the most special — the Hawkeyes only made the 1995 NCAA Tournament with an at-large bid. The team defeated both No. 9 Michigan and No. 3 Cal State-Fullerton in extra innings in the World Series before falling to eventual champion and No. 2 UCLA in the semifinals.

Despite Blevins’ success on the diamond — her 945 wins and .680 winning percentage are by far the best in Iowa softball history — she is quick to deflect the credit to her players.

“Through the years, I have been fortunate to coach and build strong relationships with a number of tremendous young women,” Blevins said in a release. “These relationships will continue to be an important part of my life. Neither time nor distance will diminish them. I love these women, am proud of them, and I will continue to follow their lives. We will always be Hawkeyes.”

The Dayton, Ohio, native emphasized excellence on and off the field with her players, 76 of whom were named to the academic All-Big Ten list. Blevins also produced 16 All-Americans and nine academic All-Americans at Iowa, and several of her former players and assistants have had successful coaching careers. Seven former Hawkeyes are current college head coaches, seven are collegiate assistant coaches, and 13 are coaching at the high-school level.

Blevins made her mark on the Iowa softball program as few coaches have ever done in any sport, and Schuelke said she appreciates her former coach.

“As a player, it was a big respect thing,” the senior said. “She’s a very personable person, and after three years, I’m a different player and a different athlete. I wish her the best of luck.”

They entered NCAA Regionals with three meaningless losses in their last five games. But all that changed last weekend when they dominated their regional and outscored their opponents 32-5 in three games.

No. 4 Florida (45-15) will look to continue its postseason surge when it attempts to advance past No. 20 Miami (43-18) in the NCAA Super Regional which begins Friday at 7 p.m. in McKethan Stadium.

“Our sights are on playing for a while into the summer,” coach Kevin O’Sullivan said.

If the Gators are to accomplish their coach’s plans and make it to the College World Series for the sixth time in school history, they will need to sustain their performance from the regional to top the Hurricanes.

Whether it be defense, pitching or hitting – Florida excelled.

In the three games, it continued its defensive success from the regular season and committed zero errors.

UF is strongest up the middle, with shortstop Nolan Fontana (.989 fielding percentage), second baseman Josh Adams (.984) and center fielder Matt den Dekker (.984).

O’Sullivan said this is one of the areas the Gators have improved in the most since last season, when shortstop Mike Mooney committed 18 errors and sported just a .930 fielding percentage.

The UF pitching staff has benefited from the improved defense all season, but it helped itself this weekend.

The starting pitchers pounded the strike zone. Seventy-four percent of their pitches went for strikes as they allowed just five runs in 19.1 innings of work while striking out 22 batters in the Gainesville Regional.

“The one thing this club does better than a lot of teams we’ve faced is they pitch in very well,” said FAU coach John McCormack, who lost to UF on Sunday.

But it wasn’t like the Florida arms didn’t have a lead to pitch with.

The Gators received production from up and down the lineup in the regional. They crushed nine home runs and posted a .385 average during the weekend.

“I think that’s the most encouraging thing going into (super regionals) – we are doing all three phases of the game as well as we have done them all year long,” O’Sullivan said.

Six Gators Drafted

On Tuesday, UF closer Kevin Chapman and den Dekker were selected in the MLB Draft.

Chapman was taken 119th overall in the fourth round by the Kansas City Royals. The New York Mets took den Dekker in the fifth round with the 152nd overall pick.

Pitchers Tommy Toledo (32nd round, Minnesota Twins), Justin Poovey (41st round, Los Angeles Angels) and Matt Campbell (43rd round, Cincinnati Reds) went on Wednesday.

Senior catcher Hampton Tignor, who took just 16 at-bats this season, was selected in the 36th round by the Angels.

The Arizona Wildcats, winners of eight national NCAA softball titles, and the UCLA Bruins, winners of 10 national titles, will face off in a best-of-three series starting Monday at 5 p.m. Pacific time.

The two teams are historically the winningest programs in the WCWS.

“I guess it is like old times,” said Arizona head coach Mike Candrea. “Back then it was a white ball with white seams, aluminum bats and now we have composite bat that’s changed the complexity of the game a bit.”

“But overall it still comes down, at this stage, of getting great pitching performances, playing great defense and doing the little things that it takes to win.”

The two teams first met in the championship series in 1991, a first of three straight meetings between UCLA and Arizona.

The programs have met a total of six times, with the Wildcats hold the edge 4-2 over the Bruins in the championship game.

The Wildcats are 8-5 all time in WCWS game against the Bruins, but because the program later vacated the 1995 title game, a 8-4 record is more precise.

This years’ matchup is the first between the teams under best-of-three contest.

Regardless of the outcome of the games, the Pacific 10 Conference will take home its 22nd NCAA Softball Championship, and it will be the 16th time a Pac-10 school has been the runner up.

“Coming in a little bit of the motivation is the hype about the SEC. The SEC is a very good conference but we still believe that the Pac-10 can hold it’s own,” Candrea said. “It’s kind of fun right now to culminate with two Pac-10 teams. I kind of like that personally.”

Arizona has had the more recent success in the championship series. The Wildcats took home back-to-back titles in 2007 and 08. The Bruins haven’t won a championship in softball since 2004.

“It’s a great feeling. It feels like it’s been a little too long,” UCLA senior Megan Langenfeld said.

The Wildcats are back in the fight for the title for the first time since they won defeated Tennessee in 2007. UCLA was last in the championship series in 2005 when Michigan beat the Bruins to be the first school to earn the national title east of the Mississippi.

The Pac-10 foes met in the last weekend of the regular season and have not met in NCAA tournament play thus far.

UCLA is perfect in WCWS play this year, knocking off Florida, Hawaii and Georgia to advance.

For Arizona, the battle tested road to get back to the championship round is an accomplishment in and of itself, but Candrea says the Wildcats aren’t satisfied with just getting to the championship game — they want to take it back to Tucson.

“We’ve talked about getting where we want to get, and we’re not there yet,” Candrea said after the Wildcats defeated Tennessee twice on Sunday to advance. “We’ve done what we needed to do to get to the championship series and we get to play a opponent that we know very well.”

The Wildcats (52-12) will now face UCLA in a best-of-three series that puts the two winningest programs in NCAA softball history up against one another.

Arizona became just the fifth team to win twice on Sunday to advance to the championship series. The last time it was done was the 2007 Wildcats, who went on to win the national championship.

“This has to go right up there as one of the great moments in Arizona history,” said head coach Mike Candra. “Just to do what they did to give us an opportunity to play for a championship.”

The Wildcats ended the Lady Volunteers’ season for the third time in the last five years.

After forcing the “if necessary” game earlier in the day by mercy ruling Tennessee (49-15) 8-0 in five innings, Arizona quickly found it’s self behind early in Sunday’s second game.

The middle of Arizona’s lineup, which was 1-for-38 coming into Sunday, got the job done for the Wildcats when they needed it most.

After attributing the success of Tennessee’s pitcher Ivy Renfroe to her ability to pitch faster than the Arizona hitters expected, the Wildcats knocked 12 hits off Renfroe (31-6) in the elimination game.

Already down two runs in the third inning, catcher Stacie Chambers cashed in with the first home run of the WCWS for Arizona. Her two run shot that scored center fielder Lauren Schutzler tied the game and swung the momentum back in the UA’s favor.

“Just an outstanding performance: Gutsy, tenacious, whatever you want to call it,” Candrea said of the team’s effort to battle back. “For the last two days it’s just been a grind. I think we had a really good team effort. Some crucial plays that you need at this time of the year.”

Chambers was 1-for-12 in the series before her 18th home run of the season.

Third baseman Brigette Del Ponte would record the game winning RBI in the fifth inning when her single scored senior K’Lee Arredondo.

The improved production put the four through eight hitters in Arizona’s lineup at 5—for-14 during the second game on Sunday.

Arredondo would cap the Wildcat scoring and add some insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth when she hit a two-run jack of her own. The blast once again changed the direction of the game. Before Arredondo stepped to the plate, the Lady Volunteers completed a double play off the bat of Schutzler that ousted Lastrapes and Buchanan, both of whom had reached on infield singles.

“We needed some more runs for (Fowler),” Arredondo said. “It’s a comfort thing you want runs on your back. It feels good.”

The fight of Tennessee, who needed just one win on against the Wildcats to ink its name along with UCLA, was unable to quell the Arizona bats despite starting off the game strong.

The Lady Volunteers came out with energy early, threatening in each of the first three innings.

Tennessee had the bases loaded in the first inning after Kenzie Fowler (38-7) walked Erinn Webb. Raven Chavanne had singled off the glove of Del Ponte and Jessica Spigner was hit by a pitch before Lauren Gibson was walked to plate the run in the first.

The second inning saw a potential add on run squandered after Melissa Brown made a base running error. Brown walked and moved to second base on Fowler’s only called illegal pitch of the night, but was doubled up on a web gem play from Lastrapes.

Brown didn’t realize that Lastrapes had caught the ball and quickly rounded the bases. After hitting the wall, Lastrapes zipped the ball back into second and ended the threat.

“Great catch by Lastrapes, kind of turned the tide a little bit,” Candrea said. “Those are the things that happen in games like this. “

After the third inning, when Tennessee got its last run of the season, Fowler worked through the rest of the game by using a combination of strikeouts and groundouts to keep the Wildcats in comfortable territory.

“Yeah I was tired, but who really cares,” said Fowler of pitching four games in two days. “The defense played awesome today and as long as you can keep the game where we have a chance to win I think our team has a good chance.”

The Wildcats will take on Pacific 10 Conference rivals UCLA starting Monday night at 5 p.m. Pacific time.

Her jabbing jokes, ribbon dancing routines and affable personality do not help her hit home runs, but it is apparent she doesn’t need help with that.

“I think the great part about this team is that we have so much fun with each other,” Marder said. “They all came to my ribbon dancing routine and we are always playing jokes on each other. We are a fun and relaxed team.”

Off the field, Marder encourages some friendly pranks.

“Megan (Miller) and I were roommates one weekend on the road and that was not fair,” she said. “We filled a bucket of ice and played a joke on freshman (Megan) Coletta. When she opened the door she got showered with all this ice. Then we ran away.”

Though this two-time captain and two-time All-American loves to entertain her teammates, she acknowledges that what you see is not always what you get.

“I definitely have two personalities and I like to compare myself to Beyonce calling herself Sasha Fierce,” Marder said. “While off the field I am really light-hearted and joking around.  On the field I am very focused, intense and driven. That is the only way I can play.”

Coach Linda Kalafatis acknowledges Marder’s split personality.

“She is smart, passionate, creative, weird and goofy,” Kalafatis said. “But, there is an intensity and passion on the field that you don’t necessarily know of off the field.”
When co-captain Courtney Pruner was asked to talk about Marder’s personality, she muttered, “Oh God.”

Pruner spoke about Marder’s humble personality, but sometimes she can take it too far.

“Anytime we get the chance to make fun of her we can,” she said.

When it comes to softball, Marder likes to mesh different parts of her personality to guide the team to success, part of her job as captain.

“I try to lead by example,” Marder said. “It is important to make sure our team is loose and relaxed, while at the same time, mentally prepared to play.”

Marder is not one to stray away from who she is. People don’t have to be at a softball practice to catch a glimpse of the lovable goof ball.

When the team plays on the Big Ten Network, she claims she is chosen to read the introductions because she is the most attractive on the team.

In addition, Marder represented the softball team by performing rhythmic gymnastics, otherwise known as ribbon dancing, for Buckeyes Got Talent.

“The nerve to get up there and be that silly is remarkable,” Kalafatis said.

The song she chose was Miley Cyrus’ “The Climb.”

While the regional tournament approaches, the team will begin its ascent to its ultimate goal, Oklahoma City.

Enea crushed a double down the left-field line, but could then only watch as the final two outs were recorded and the Washington Huskies celebrated their 2009 NCAA championship, dashing Florida’s hopes of winning it all for the first time in school history.

A title has been about the only thing that has eluded Enea in her time as a Gator.

The senior left fielder has set eight Florida and Southeastern Conference hitting records, spent an entire season playing through injury, led the team both vocally and by example all year, directed numerous community service projects and even accepted a marriage proposal on the field.

Despite all that, there’s still one thing Enea hasn’t done: win a national championship.

“Not many teams can say they walked away with a national championship under their belt,” Enea said. “So many girls around here or at other schools have broken records and that’s great, but being able to say that you won a national championship with your team would be irreplaceable.”

Tough as nails

When Enea first set foot on Florida’s campus four years ago, she had no idea her career could blossom into what it has become today.

The then-catcher described herself as just an average offensive player — certainly not someone who would go on to set the SEC career home run record with 61.

“I never thought I would be much of a home-run hitter,” Enea said. “I thought maybe I got lucky whenever I hit one out, so my success the last couple years has kinda surprised me.”

Just looking at Enea’s freshman numbers, it would be pretty easy to assume her assessment was accurate.

During the 2007 season, in which she played just 48 games due to a knee injury, Enea hit a meager .227 with only six home runs and 22 RBIs.

While those numbers may have been a detriment to her career statistics, the lessons she learned from that down year have proven to be invaluable.

“It just taught me that I can get out pretty easily and that sometimes you won’t be as successful as you want to be, but you can’t let that factor into how well the team is going to do,” Enea said. “It taught me to take each at-bat and learn from it, to not get down when I get out but instead learn from every at-bat and every play and that’s what helped me the most.”

Even once she put her freshman season behind her and learned how to deal with her mistakes, Enea continued to face adversity.

In the fall of 2008, she suffered a tear on the same ACL that sidelined her during a stretch of her freshman campaign.

An injury of that nature would typically lead to season-ending surgery, but instead Enea chose to tough it out, playing the entire 2009 season in pain.

She finished the year with 18 homers and a  single-season record 70 RBIs while posting a .339 batting average.

While Enea was battling through injury and willing herself to one of the greatest seasons in UF softball history on just one knee, she still felt sorry for the team more than herself.

“I think it really affected the team more than it affected me,” Enea said. “I felt bad when I couldn’t get to balls in the outfield and I couldn’t make turns running the bases. I just felt I couldn’t be as great for the team as I wanted to be.”

On the surface it appears that the injury has healed and things are back to normal, but there are still numerous occasions where it is obvious Enea will never be back to 100 percent.

During a game on May 8 against South Carolina, Enea spent nearly a minute on the ground after taking what appeared to be a routine swing, clearly experiencing considerable pain.

“Unfortunately I’ve had knee problems all through my life,” Enea said. “As I’m getting older it’s getting harder to deal with but I’m just trying to push myself through. I’m just going through every day taking care of business, seeing whatever doctors I have to so that I can finish the season and do well in my future career.”

Not surprisingly, Enea finished the at-bat and is yet to miss a start this season.

Been there, done that

When a player deals with as much adversity as Enea has over the years, it seems that leadership comes naturally both on and off the field.

In terms of Florida softball, Enea offers a level of experience that only fellow senior Corrie Brooks can match, as they are the only two players who have been through both the ups of a trip to the Women’s College World Series final and the downs of a 22-loss season in their freshman seasons.

While all of the team’s sophomores and juniors already understand the importance of not putting too much pressure on themselves and just trying to have fun in big games like those in the SEC and NCAA Tournaments, only Enea and Brooks can speak to the importance of bouncing back from losses and keeping everything going in the right direction.

“In the beginning of the season Corrie and I talked to them and we said, ‘Listen, we aren’t going to win every game this year,’” Enea said. “We told them that we’re going to lose a little bit more, and how successful we can be is based on how we bounce back from those losses.

“Now we aren’t afraid to lose, we just know what its like and we’re not gonna let that happen.”

It is this hard-working, never-quit attitude that has made Enea not just the player she is today but also the person she is today –  someone who has spent countless hours giving back to the Gainesville community.

Over her four years she has organized the Swing for Cancer event, was the co-chair of the Climb for Cancer Sport Camps and was the catalyst behind the team’s “adoption” of a 13-year-old girl with a brain tumor via the Friends of Jacyln Foundation.

She has also been heavily involved with CAMP Gator, GatorTracks, Habitat for Humanity, the Special Olympics, Miracles on Main, and even squeezes in weekly visits to Shands Hospital.

“I do all that just for the simple fact that I can do it,” Enea said. “The University of Florida provides you with so many outlets to get involved so why not take advantage of it?”

A dream come true

Although Enea will leave Florida with the career records for home runs (61), RBIs (220) and slugging percentage (.646), the most memorable moment of her career might have nothing to do with softball.

In what can only be described as one of the most remarkable Senior Days in the history of UF athletics, Enea experienced not only the traditional festivities but also a surprise marriage proposal that left herself and everyone else in the stadium in shock.

While Enea, her family and coach Tim Walton posed for a picture alongside Enea’s framed jersey and bouquet of flowers, Christian Bruey, a UF alumnus and Enea’s boyfriend of three years, sneaked up behind the group and dropped to a knee.

Enea, who quickly said yes, was taken aback by the presence of Bruey, who gave Enea the impression he wouldn’t be able to attend the Senior Day celebration.

“He said he wasn’t going to be able to make it and I was giving him crap about it for weeks and saying he was going to be in the dog house if he didn’t come on time,” Enea said. “Then all of a sudden I heard someone shout his name out from the crowd and I looked and saw him and he didn’t waste any time, he went right down on one knee and I was just shocked.”

Thanks to some clever planning by Bruey, who first met Enea while doing the radio broadcasts for Gators softball during her freshman year, only a small group of people knew that such a plan was in the works, least of all Enea.

And although the senior was blindsided by Bruey’s unexpected proposal, it turns out the plan was actually Enea’s idea all along.

“I had a dream about it two years ago,” Enea said. “So I said to him, ‘Oh I had a dream that you proposed to me on Senior Day,’ and he said ‘Well that’ll never happen because I’ll never make enough money for the ring you want.’ So I said ‘Yeah you’re probably right,’”

Enea was able to follow the pregame theatrics with her SEC-record-breaking 61st career home run, but she is now only concerned with putting the day behind her and focusing on what is still left to be accomplished.

“It was a great day and I don’t think I could stop smiling, but now the day’s over and I’m just trying to move on and not get distracted by it,” Enea said.

Because with just three weeks to go in her Florida softball career, Enea and her teammates are honing in on the only thing that has managed to elude them the last three years — a national championship.

After starting tae kwon do when she was nine, she moved up to the rank of recommended black belt, the level which precedes the black belt and takes a year to complete, but she had to decide between tae kwon do and softball because of the time commitment each one required.

“I wish I would’ve been able to find the time to do both, but the level I got into in karate required a lot more time,” Jobe said.

Softball was the choice, and as she comes to the end of her softball career, she said she embraced the game by putting everything she had into it.

During her high school career, which included a state title and a state runner-up, Jobe said playing for Kansas was her goal. When Kansas offered her a scholarship her sophomore year in high school, she quickly committed.

“I grew up a Jayhawk fan my entire life. It was kind of a no-brainer,” Jobe said. “I committed really early because I knew if I was given the option, I would go here.”

Jobe became a four-year starter, and after being moved around her freshman year, she started at first base for the past three seasons. With Kansas fielding a young team this season that starts four freshmen, coach Megan Smith said Jobe was a great asset to help lead the team.

“She’s not very loud on the field, but she leads by example, and the underclassmen see how she conducts herself on and off the field,” Smith said. “We hope all of our players strive to be like her.”

Junior catcher Brittany Hile, who played with Jobe before they both went to Kansas, said Jobe has a great passion for the game, even if it may not look like it.

“She’ll make the plays, get outs and just not seem too excited,” Hile said. “She doesn’t show it much, but you know she has the drive to get it done.”

Being a four-year starter, Jobe has embraced being a student-athlete, being named on both All-Big 12 Second Team twice as well as Academic All-Big 12 First Team twice in her first three years.

Jobe said it got difficult balancing school and softball, and in one course alone, she has missed around 20 classes this semester.

“It’s hard because there’s really not much I can do about it,” Jobe said. “It’s a struggle, but my teachers and coaches have really been great.”

After Jobe gets her bachelor’s degree, she said she planned to apply to the University of Kansas Medical Center this summer, and has thought about either a family practice or sports medicine.

Jobe said with her final season coming to a close, she doesn’t know what life will be like after softball.

“I’ve played softball for so many years and involved in a system that really helped guide me through everything,” Jobe said. “I’m about to be at a point where I’m kind of all on my own.”

The biggest issue could be the distances teams would likely have to travel if the conference added schools outside the Midwest.

Making another trip to the East Coast, for example, would take a bigger chunk out of the University’s budget than the current setup, and it would cause some athletes to miss class more often than they already do.

“This year we had about a 12-hour trip to get to Penn State,” men’s tennis head coach Brad Dancer said. “When we look at expansion, it’s probably going to be driven by finances and revenue opportunities, but I hope that when they look at that they do look at the logistics in terms of missed class time and other factors that are associated with that.”

Baseball head coach Dan Hartleb said while road trips may be extended, the benefits of expanding the conference would cancel out the drawbacks of the extra travel.

“You could have someplace where you have further travel, maybe another flight,” Hartleb said. “But that stuff will all be considered, and if it brings more revenue to the entire conference, then there’s going to be money there for us to travel.”

Some athletes may not notice or care too much about the increase in distance that expansion could bring.

“Obviously, we travel a good amount as it is right now,” sophomore tennis player Dennis Nevolo said. “I don’t know how much we’d realize it if they did add another school. Clearly, it’d be a long trip (to the East Coast), and we probably don’t want to travel too far again. But if that’s how it happens, then that’s just how it is.”

Illinois softball’s Audrey Gallien said any disadvantages of adding teams would be negated by the positives another team could bring.

“Every softball program is getting better and better every year, and to add that much more competition to the conference would just be great all around, in terms of competition and camaraderie,” Gallien said.

“We’d miss more school, obviously, but it’s a great opportunity,” Gallien added.

The Big Ten began as a seven-school conference in 1895. The original members were Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Northwestern, Purdue, Wisconsin and the University of Chicago. Indiana and Iowa joined four years later, and Ohio State joined in 1912 to bring the number of members to 10. Chicago left the conference in 1946 and was replaced by Michigan State three years later.

The conference first expanded to 11 schools in 1990 with the addition of Penn State. A decision resolving current expansion discussions will not be announced until at least December.

Schools that have been included in the expansion rumors include (in no particular order): Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Syracuse, Missouri, Notre Dame, Texas and, to a lesser extent, Connecticut and Maryland. Notre Dame turned down an offer to join the Big Ten in 1999.

“Everyone talks about possibly bringing in Texas,” Dancer said. “I know that might be a pie-in-the-sky dream, but everyone’s got an understanding of what kind of revenue that potentially brings in, too.”

Schools joining the conference would likely need to be members of the Association of American Universities, an organization of universities to support research, which could rule out Connecticut and Notre Dame — unless the benefits of adding either school trump the importance of AAU membership.

All 11 current Big Ten schools are AAU members, which no other Division I conference can claim.

The extended travel would either cause long road trips or a two-division conference, splitting it either north-south or east-west. Softball head coach Terri Sullivan said she wouldn’t be in favor of splitting the conference, which would have the Illini facing fewer teams and possibly playing three-game series instead of the current setup of two-game series.

“I don’t particularly care for that,” Sullivan said. “That’s what the SEC has to do — they’re split into two divisions and then they join up at the end. I’ve just always been a big fan of being able to play everybody in the conference. I’d go nuts if I was in football and wasn’t able to.

“You find a true conference winner by playing each other.”

No matter how many teams are added — if any — Hartleb thinks the Big Ten will remain one of the premier conferences in the country.

“I don’t mind one way or the other,” Hartleb said. “I think our setup’s very good right now. I think if you bring more teams into the mix, it just adds a new dimension. If it’s what’s best for the entire conference, I’m all for it.”

Recent national softball statistics have shown a rise in offensive numbers as well as a rise in strikeouts. Whether it be the improvement in technology or the increased strength training, one thing is certain: more pitches are either being sent out of the park or smacking into the catcher’s mitt.

Statistical archives of Division-I softball from 1999 to 2009 show a definite increase in big-hitting ability. The average number of home runs per game has jumped from .31 to .57, though the number was .61 in 2007.
Few modern statistics look similar to their 1999 counterparts. Batting average has hardly increased at all from .263 to .265. Scoring has only moved from 3.76 to 3.98 runs per game.

U. Kentucky head coach Rachel Lawson, a former U. Massachusetts softball player, has witnessed many of these changes firsthand.

“Many of the fields I played at had no fences, so a home run was around 220 feet,” Lawson said. “After teams began investing more money into their facilities and putting emphasis on softball, they put up 200-foot fences, which are obviously easier to hit over.

“Another big change has been the use of composite bats. That is a new technology we didn’t have when I played. We need to get a better handle on the batting technology and get those home run numbers under control. These girls are already bigger, stronger and faster.”

In sharp contrast to that, strikeouts are up as well. Through a seven-inning game in 1999, a pitcher tossed 4.45 Ks. That number has now jumped to 5.27 per game.

UK proves to be no exception to the increase of power numbers. In fact, some of its statistics are even more staggering. Though the Cats’ softball statistics are only archived since 2002, the trends are still visible.

UK hit only 20 home runs in 2002. That number has been steadily increasing recently and jumped to 39 last season. The Cats are an extreme example of the national number of home runs.

The most notable change for UK has been the number of strikeouts. UK pitchers recorded 103 in 2002, an average of 1.84 per game. Last season UK fanned 315 batters, an average of 5.53 per game. Though the rise can be attributed to UK’s talented pitchers, the number has been climbing since 2002.

“Any time Chanda Bell goes onto the field she can earn anywhere from eight to 13 or 14 strikeouts per game,” Lawson said. “Her and Amber (Matousek) have done a great job for us. But any time a pitcher can provide half of the outs like they can, it is an absolute game-changer.”

In that span, the Wolverines have gone 7-0, given up four runs total and scored more than 10 runs per game.

But when junior pitcher Jordan Taylor took to the mound on Saturday at Minnesota, she left no room for improvement. Taylor pitched the program’s first perfect game since 2008, as Michigan rolled 9-0 and 10-0 in the two-game weekend series.

“She was just shutting the other team down every pitch of the game,” senior third baseman Maggie Viefhaus said. “Her performance was really stellar.” .

Despite having to alter her pitching motion midseason as umpires have begun to crack down on the crow-hop rule, something she called the “hardest thing (she’s) ever had to do,” Taylor recorded 10 strikeouts in just five innings to pitch the sixth perfect game in Michigan softball history.

“I’ve thrown probably close to a million pitches in my career — so it’s always been the same way,” Taylor said after Sunday’s game. “It’s really cool to know that I can still be as effective if not more with completely rearranging my mechanics.”

Though this was the first perfect game of her Michigan career, Taylor said that she had thrown five such games in high school.

“It definitely didn’t take me until my junior year to throw a perfect game in high school,” she said.

Not to be outdone, senior pitcher Nikki Nemitz had a standout performance of her own on Sunday, posting a shutout.

Nemitz gave up just one hit and walked one batter to go along with four strikeouts. The lone hit was a routine pop into left centerfield.

“We definitely feed off the pitchers, as hitters, as defenders,” Viefhaus said. “If they are shutting the team down it’s going to make us feel better and more confident. They were just awesome this weekend.”

And that confidence showed as the Wolverines got it done at the plate as well, ending both games in the fifth inning due to softball’s eight-run mercy rule.

Michigan batters went a combined .340 in both games, with six different players batting in runs.

Viefhaus was one of the headliners, recording a two-run home run on Saturday and going 2-for-3 on Sunday with another RBI.

Other Wolverines also continued their solid hitting. Senior outfielder Angela Findlay had a two-run homer of her own while junior Dorian Shaw drove in a three-run long ball to end the game.

Viefhaus, Nemitz, sophomore outfielder Bree Evans and senior catcher Roya St. Clair each had multiple-hit performances.

With the sweep of the Gophers (1-5 Big Ten, 15-25 overall), the Wolverines (7-0, 30-5) continue to show their dominance in the conference.

“We’re so great because everyone in this lineup can get a hit,” Viefhaus said. “If somebody doesn’t get a hit, the next person will.”

After going through its difficult nonconference schedule relatively unscathed, Michigan has made the Big Ten season look like a cakewalk in comparison.

The Wolverines will take a small break from conference play when they take on Central Michigan this Wednesday before resuming their Big Ten slate against Northwestern over the weekend.

Still, Michigan knows that before obtaining its ultimate goal — a Women’s College World Series appearance and even a national championship — the team will have to prove itself in the Big Ten first.

“The Big Ten season means a lot to us,” Viefhaus said. “We want to win a national, uhh, Big Ten championship.”

Viefhaus’s quick mental slip up revealed the team’s ultimate goals, when she was asked if the national title was part of that grand design.

“Heck yeah, but we have to win the Big Ten first,” Viefhaus said.

She has tremendous faith in her pitchers — she must if she only carries three of them on her roster.

The second-ranked Wolverines (3-0 Big Ten, 26-5 overall) are one of six ranked NCAA teams with just three hurlers. Most teams have two starters, along with at least two or three arms available in the bullpen.

Critics often wonder — what happens if one of those starters has a rough outing, and there’s not enough relief?

But Hutchins has never been particularly concerned about that. It’s a question that she and her players shrug off.

“That’s fine,” senior third baseman Maggie Viefhaus said. “If one of them doesn’t do well, we have two other pitchers that will come out and beat you anyway. It doesn’t matter who’s on the mound. We’re going to beat you.”

All-Americans Nikki Nemitz and Jordan Taylor have pitched for 200 of the team’s 211 innings this season.

But who is the third pitcher of whom fans hear, but see so little? Who is the one that is bound to step in for Nemitz next season?

Her name is Stephanie Speierman, a freshman righty who spent the last four seasons shattering high school records in Maryland. She set eight different marks, including career strikeouts (1,363), single-season strikeouts (426), single-season wins (23) and single-season ERA (0.00).

Moreover, she could potentially fill Nemitz’s role as a hitting pitcher, as she batted a career .462 over her four years at Hammond High.

“Well, I’m not opposed to (putting her in the lineup),” Hutchins said. “Anytime you got a player that can pitch and hit, my philosophy is the best nine hitters are in the lineup. So, if she’s one of them, then she will be.”

So far, it’s difficult to tell whether or not Speierman’s high school dominance will convert to the NCAA level as it did for Nemitz and junior Jordan Taylor. Through her first seven appearances, in which she’s pitched 11 innings, she’s given up five earned runs and two homers.

One may chalk up those numbers to inexperience or a lack of routine starts, but her stats are comparatively weak when looking at Nemitz and Taylor’s rookie year numbers — they finished with ERAs of 1.88 and 0.76, respectively.

But after this weekend, Speierman put some of those concerns to rest.

Once Michigan garnered a 15-run lead over Wisconsin after just three innings on Saturday, Hutchins chose to clear her bench to give her starters a rest. Taylor took a seat, and Speierman took the mound.

The switch was seamless. Badger hitters continued to go down like flies, just as they had in the first three innings.

Even after Speierman gave up a bloop single that landed safely in right field to break up the combined Michigan no-hitter, she came back and struck out the next batter to end the game.

“It happens,” Speierman said. “People get hits. It wasn’t a big deal to me.”

And Speierman is still a long way from proving her worth as a premiere Wolverine starter — there’s only so much you can tell about a pitcher from 11 innings of work.

But from the looks of it, she’s on the way.

Compared to the dangers of vicious monkeys, playing softball for a nationally ranked team isn’t as scary as it sounds.

It was just another day in a Bolivian rain forest a few years ago for U. Texas outfielder Taylor Hoagland, who is one-fourth Bolivian, when a sudden encounter with a rambunctious monkey sent her rushing to the medics. A big fat rabies shot was waiting for her there.

“It was an experience I’ll never forget,” Hoagland said.

Take the leadoff spot in the batting order? Sure. Set a school record for most consecutive games with a hit? No problem. But leave your monkeys at home, please.

Hoagland is one of the leaders in just about every statistical category for the Longhorns this year. She flew under the radar for most of the season until it became known that she was inching closer and closer to tying former Texas player Lindsay Gardner’s record for 16 consecutive games with a hit. She broke that record on March 24 against Texas State and extended it to 21 games, ending it on Tuesday at UTSA. Her numbers so far echo those of a seasoned veteran: .402 batting average, six home runs, 19 RBI.

She’s a freshman.

With all the attention newcomers such as Hoagland, who is from Flower Mound, Texas, have been getting this year, it would be easy for them to get caught up in the glory of the spotlight. When you hit a home run at Red and Charline McCombs Field, jogging around the bases to the famous tune from “The Natural” as the crowd screams your name isn’t exactly a humbling experience. Despite these influences, it’s all about the team for Hoagland.

“My favorite part about hitting a home run is touching home plate,” Hoagland said. “Your teammates are there waiting for you, getting really excited and pumped up, and you’re able to set the tone for your team.”

Hoagland’s team is sure to celebrate every contribution she can make in Friday and Saturday’s match up against Big 12 rival Kansas. The Longhorns are 2-0 in conference play after being expected to finish only fifth in preseason polls when the Texas squad began unranked. Kansas is 0-2 in Big 12 play, dropping both games to Texas A&M. Hoagland and the Longhorns will begin their two-game series against Kansas on Friday afternoon. The game, which will be played in Lawrence, Kan., is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. Saturday’s game is slotted for a noon start.

With the spirit and skill Hoagland brings to the table, her teammates and coaches have every excuse to remain her biggest fans.
“It’s amazing,” head coach Connie Clark said. “She has every tool you want in a young athlete. She runs well, she’s got a gun for an arm and she’s versatile.”

Hoagland also incorporates her passion for music into her game. When she walks up to bat, Lil’ Wayne’s solo in Keri Hilson’s “Turnin Me On” blares out of the speakers. A rap solo as a batter’s motivational song isn’t that uncommon in a softball game, but Hoagland chose her lyrics carefully:
“I’m at the plate again. If you pitch at me, I’m a swing away at it. Someone better play the fence.”

Following a great act isn’t anything new for Lacey Middlebrooks.

Coming from a Texas sports family, including an older brother playing professional baseball, the U. Minnesota Gophers softball pitcher thrives on competition and believes in hard work, both of which helped her as she joined a team trying to fill a hole left by one of the program’s best pitchers.

Through the season’s first seven weeks, Middlebrooks admits she has exceeded her own expectations. She leads the Big Ten in starts, wins and innings pitched and is second in strikeouts.

Adding to that are 20 complete games — including four shutouts and a no-hitter — and all of the Gophers’ 15 wins this season.

“I’m not saying I wasn’t confident in my ability, but it’s just a lot to take in … [as] a freshman coming in,” Middlebrooks said. “I can only keep working harder to keep moving up.”

Middlebrooks competed for years with her older brother, Will, who now plays in the Boston Red Sox minor league organization. She said they would often go with their father to practice hitting or pitching.

“You had someone to fight with. You had someone to make you better,” Middlebrooks said.

Will Middlebrooks was a sports star at Liberty-Eylau High School in Texarkana, Texas and was drafted by the Red Sox in the fifth round of the first-year players draft in June 2007 . Lacey still had two years to carry on the family’s athletic success in high school.

“It was almost a shadow, but we were so competitive that I didn’t want to do anything but be better than him,” said Middlebrooks, who led Liberty-Eylau’s softball team to the state championship game as a junior.

But Middlebrooks was denied further high school success when she tore an anterior cruciate ligament and medial and lateral meniscus at the beginning of her senior season of high school volleyball.

Reconstructive knee surgery and the subsequent recovery kept her from playing softball the following spring, and she played only eight games last summer.

For the intense Middlebrooks, the experience taught her patience.

“I’m not a patient person,” Middlebrooks said. “I think it took something drastic to make me realize that I can work harder … I realized what more hard work and patience will do for me, and when you work harder, you get more success.”

While Middlebrooks was working to get back on the field, the Gophers were playing their final season with ace Briana Hassett.

Hassett set Minnesota’s single-season records for complete games and strikeouts in 2009 and finished her career with the most complete games in program history.

Senior outfielder Heidi Carls, who entered the program in 2005-06 along with Hassett, knew this season’s young pitching staff, including Middlebrooks and sophomore Alissa Koch, would have to carry the load.

“I knew that we were just going to have to let them know that they were going to have to work really, really hard and fill in some shoes,” Carls said.

Middlebrooks didn’t need much of a reminder, Carls learned.

“She works hard, she has a great mindset, she’s aggressive, she’s tough, she’s not going to let anybody walk all over her,” Carls said. “She’s kind of her own little breed. She’s very focused between the ears.”

Middlebrooks has started fast, but she still has room to become a great pitcher, according to Gophers third-year pitching coach Piper Marten, the program’s all-time leader in games pitched, innings, wins and strikeouts from a career that spanned 2001 to 2004.

Marten said Middlebrooks has succeeded by “hitting her spots” and throwing two solid pitches — a dropball and changeup. If Middlebrooks could develop another pitch each year, Marten said she could be even tougher on hitters.

“It’s up to her,” Marten said. “I think if she stays consistent on the mound, mentally and physically, she’ll be fine.”

Middlebrooks said she has been motivated by pitching in 14 one-run games, including six losses in such contests.

So, what does she think will keep her rolling?

“Hard work overpowers talent, overpowers getting a lucky hit or something,” Middlebrooks said. “Having that intensity to want to get better.”

After going 3-2 in the challenging Judi Garman Classic Tournament — three of the teams they played were ranked in the top 25 — head coach Mike Candrea’s squad has put together a 25-3 record despite road barriers galore.

Mostly thanks to injuries, the Wildcats could turn a series of bad-luck stories into positives down the line — get over the seemingly endless track of hurdles, and the team could be battle-tested enough to be a serious threat to follow up the reigning national champion Washington Huskies, even with a freshman — in ace Kenzie Fowler — in the circle.

Despite a hard-fought loss to No. 4 Michigan and another defeat at the hands of an unranked Virginia team this weekend, the Wildcats did fare better against No. 24 Louisville and No. 11 Oklahoma. Against the Sooners, Candrea saw a glimpse of that never-die attitude that a championship-level team needs.

“I thought it was one of those defining moments that some teams have throughout the year,” Candrea said of his team fighting back from a 3-0 deficit to win 4-3. “I really felt that we fought hard.”

It was similar to the fight the team has shown throughout the entire non-conference season.

See hot-hitting sophomore Lini Koria missing two weekends’ worth of games after the death of her mother.

See No. 2 pitcher Sarah Akamine recovering from back surgery but gutting it out to pitch seven solid innings against New Mexico in a 9-3 win last weekend.

See outfielder Karissa Buchanan, now with a finger injury that called for X-rays. Or freshman first baseman Baillie Kirker missing time after being hit in the ribs by a ball.

The Wildcats only have three losses, all without continuity in the lineup or much of a breather in Arizona’s opponents. Two of those three losses came to No. 4- and No. 5-ranked squads, seasoning the Wildcats with World Series-type play.

“That was a good game for us,” Candrea said of the loss to Michigan. “I thought it was a game that we needed to play a good opponent and see what it’s like to see when we get into crunch time.”

Even falling to Virginia didn’t seem to rile Candrea.

“We were in both ball games that we ended up losing,” he said after the weekend. “You have to take the good with it. We had opportunities to win.”

Cashing in on those opportunities is part of the learning curve.

So should Arizona be hailed as a championship contender at this point?

It’s too early to say, especially before Pacific 10 Conference play begins.

What will be the most telling is if the players can take each challenge to heart and turn the defeats and the downfalls into persistence and experience.

Just the usual national championship softball talk in Tucson.

They’ve pitched around her. They’ve pitched her inside. They’ve pitched aggressively.

Either way, Shaw finds a way to touch the bases.

Twenty-seven games into the season, Shaw has already hammered out 10 home runs. Boasting the team’s highest slugging percentage at .784 and leading the team in walks (16), the first baseman is certainly a Wolverine to watch out for this season.

An immediate contributor to the team, Shaw has started at first base since she arrived in Ann Arbor and now has 131 games under her belt.

From the early-season five-game tournaments to the difficult conference schedule ahead, the physical game can wear on anyone. But over the past three years, Shaw has learned the importance of the mental game, regardless of what happens on the diamond.

“My freshman year, I was making so much out of ‘I’m supposed to be doing this’ and ‘I’m supposed to be doing that,’ ” Shaw said. “I was doing more thinking than playing. One thing that I’ve learned is controlling my emotions and controlling my mind while I’m on the field. That’s something that I had never been taught before, until I got here.

“When you get here, everybody on the team is good, everybody can play and everybody can do the physical things. It’s the mental game that puts you above, because you have to have the mental toughness and ability to bounce back because there is so much failure.”

Now an upperclassman, the slugger has proven herself to her team and coaches. As a natural leader, Shaw embraces the fact that her teammates turn to her when they need advice, encouragement or a different perspective. On a team with six seniors, Shaw feels comfortable relating to both the younger and older Wolverines.

“At this level, sometimes you might just need a little reassurance when you’re not having a great day,” Shaw said. “I can go to a freshman and be like ‘Hey, you belong here, you can play with us. You’re just as good as anybody else out here.’ More than anything, the experience of going through the ups and downs of the game is what is going to help us. We all know what it feels like to have a crappy day or a really good day but (we don’t) get too high or low on ourselves.”

Though the most consistent Michigan unit this season has been the pitchers, throughout her years at Michigan, Shaw has provided a consistent presence from the middle of the lineup.

Last season, Shaw’s bat heated up in the postseason, as five of her 14 total home runs came during NCAA Tournament play. Only four home runs shy of last year’s season total, Shaw looks to keep her foot on the gas pedal this season.

Using the team’s run into the Women’s College World Series last season as motivation, the junior is hoping that her mental game can give her the extra edge in the batter’s box and in the field.

“You can’t just be happy to be (in the postseason),” Shaw said. “You can’t just make it to the dance, you have to want to win and always be competing because the team that’s going to win is the team that literally wants it the most.

Any team can has the capability, the talent, the players. Hutch always tells us ‘Other teams give scholarships, too.’ They have good players. It really comes down to who actually has the desire. If your not going to grind to get it, then everything you have done for the past year seems like it was all for naught.”