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Last hope for softball wins this weekend

April 23, 2010

by Lindsey Bosse

Since spring break, the softball team has yet to snag another win. For their last weekend of the season, it looks to be promising, since opponent George Fox is hovering over them in the NWC rankings. Comparing win-lose statistics for the teams thus far, George Fox holds a 3-20 conference ranking, and 9-26 overall while Lewis & Clark has 0-24 in conference and 3-32 overall.

“There’s a sense of urgency,” said Gabby Castro (’12). “We’ve put a lot of work into [the season], we know we deserve it, and the win is just right there, we just have to want it. All twelve of us have to want it.”

The team has had a rocky season up until this point, but it shows major improvement since the beginning. Since the transition to a new coach, and the start of a whole new season, the players have been able to grow into a team.

“The combination of the team and the coaches has brought back the competitiveness of the game, which is hard considering how long some of us have been playing,” Castro said. As for their play on the diamond, Castro said, “We have tight defense, and now all we need to add is the offense. We struggle to combine the two.”

This past weekend LC played Puget Sound on Saturday and Pacific Lutheran on Sunday, both at the opponent’s home fields. The first game against UPS proved LC’s tight defense, leaving the game in UPS’s favor by only 2-0. Offense was a bit off, however, and the team only managed two hits in the whole game, one each from sisters Jessica Mullins (’10) and Jet’aime Mullins (‘13). Game two proved UPS’s offense as the score jumped to 9-1 at the end of the game. The lone point for the Pios was run by Jet’aime Mullins while Caroline DeVincezi (’12) assisted with the hit.

Sunday’s games showed some of the most passionate play of the team’s entire season.

“I haven’t seen that much intense desire from all 12 of us in, well, the whole season,” said Castro.

In game one the Lutes took off running, taking no time to score six of their eight points of the game in the first two innings, going into the fourth with a score of 7-0. Jamie Moon (’11) ran the one point for the Pios in the sixth inning, thanks to a hit by Danielle Bletchert (’12). The Lutes finally finished off the game in the sixth with 8-1.

On the other hand, game two gave PLU a run for their money. The Lutes started the game strong with three hits, resulting in three runs in the first inning. LC began catching up in the third inning, scoring its first point through Jet’aime Mullins picking up the RBI. LC continued to pick up points and was ahead in the sixth inning. It was 6-3 in the sixth, but when PLU took its turn to bat it racked up six runs in the course of one inning, and LC was unable to catch up through the seventh.