The baseball team played four games over the weekend, two against Upper Iowa and two against Truman. The team played the first two games on Friday, Feb. 21 against Upper Iowa and then Truman and won both games (15-4, 21-1). Games three and four were against Truman and Upper Iowa again and the Gorillas won both of those games as well (20-5, 13-8).
Head baseball coach Bob Fornelli was happy with the way the team played.
“We played pretty good baseball for the most part,” Fornelli said. “I thought we really swung the bats well. We scored 60 runs in four games. You’re gonna win a lot of those games. So, feel good… about the weekend… before we host our first conference series this weekend against Fort Hays.”
The softball team played four games as part of the Edmond Regional Festival in Edmond. The Gorilla women lost to Saint Mary’s and Oklahoma Christian on Friday, Feb. 21 (4-6, 1-3). The softball team managed to bounce back and close the weekend with two wins against Midwestern State and Cameron (9-6, 9-3) on Saturday, Feb. 22.
Head Coach Ashley Balazs thought the team did a few things well on Saturday.
“…We pitched really well and made some great defensive plays,” Balazs said. “… Then obviously… 18 runs in two games is fantastic. We had 13 extra base hits over the weekend which was more along the lines of the type of hitters we’re capable of. So, it was nice for us to have some things come together.”
Dawson Pomelroy stood out to Fornelli during the games against Truman and Upper Iowa.
“Dawson Pomelroy was really good offensively this week,” Fornelli said. “I couldn’t tell you all his stats, but he hit a couple home runs and was really good for us this weekend.”
While she was happy with the results on Saturday, Balaz hopes to see the team improve in a few aspects of their gameplay but believe the girls are headed the right way.
“We still need to move our feet a little bit, better angles on defense… and we just need to continue to limit hits by our opposing teams,” Balazs said. “They’re getting quite a few hits but we’re definitely on the right track.”
Conference play will begin this weekend for baseball. Fornelli want to see the team give every game their best effort.
“Again, (I hope to see us) coming out and competing,” Fornelli said. “It’s the first weekend of conference. We have 33 conference games, and this is the first weekend of them. So, if you want to be anywhere at the end of the season, you got to make sure you’re prepared and ready to go for the weekend.”
Conference play for softball won’t start until the middle of March but Balazs hopes to see the team continue improving and getting better every day.
“It’s the last weekend before conference starts,” Balazs said. “We really need to keep everything moving from Saturday. (We have) six games with some pretty good opponents. (We are) just looking to keep rolling forward.”