After suffering through a weekend where the softball team was leading in every game after five and a half innings and ended the weekend 1-2, coach Lisa Navas called the weekend series against Georgia Tech the lowest point of the year.
Despite doing “everything we should have to win, our defense just didn’t make the plays,” Navas said. But she refuses to dampen her confidence in her team. “It’s a long season; it’s far from over. The kids are tired and a little frustrated, but we’ll get back at it,” Navas said. “Nobody wins the World Series in March, so we have the whole month of April to get ready for May.”
During the series that featured a doubleheader on Saturday and concluded with a Sunday afternoon game, offense seemed to come from everywhere for the Pack (22-13, 3-3 ACC), which put up a total of 20 runs in Atlanta.
Senior captains Jen Chamberlin and Abbie Sims both had two home runs during the series, and the Pack tied a school record on Sunday by blasting five balls over the fence during its lone win during the series.
“We had different kids step up at different times [on offense] throughout the lineup; I was really proud of the way we swung the bat,” Navas said. “The other two facets of the game didn’t pan out for us.”
The Pack has amassed enough frequent flier miles already this season to rival a flight attendant, playing in two tournaments in Florida, as well as one in Alabama and one in California. Now it is ready to play at home for a change.
“As a team we are pretty tired; we have traveled more this year than we ever have. We’ve been on the road pretty much the entire year, so that’s been tough,” Navas said. “It makes it nice to play at home with the home support.”
Today the Pack will host East Carolina at Walnut Creek Park for a doubleheader. Senior Chamberlin knows she and her teammates will be ready to play against an always competitive in-state rival, despite the fatigue.
“We enjoy playing in the middle of the week, it’s less time to practice and more time to perfect our game performances,” Chamberlin said. “It’s just another game, we are going to go out there, compete and get a win.”
Navas and Chamberlin both said ECU was an opponent they could not afford to look past.
“We have played very tight games with ECU in the past three years. So there is nothing less to expected (out of ourselves),” Navas said. “It’s going to be a tough one.”
Navas said she expects all three of her pitchers — Sims, senior Shaina Ervin and junior Megan Dalthorp — to see time on the mound at some point against the Pirates. Sims, who doubles as one of the most dangerous hitters in the lineup, can always be counted on from the batter’s box and the pitcher’s circle, according to Navas, and Wednesday will be no different.
“[Sims] has been one of our top three hitters every year, that’s why she plays right field when she is not pitching, she’s an outstanding hitter,” Navas said.
In addition, out of the 15 games Sims has started this year on the mound, she has thrown 14 complete games, including five shutouts.
According to Navas, the team improved from Saturday to Sunday last weekend by putting a stop to the mistakes that let Georgia Tech back in the game. This week she is looking for her team to “continue swinging the bat the way we have been, stop making the same mistakes and get a little bit better.”