Monday, March 8, 2010

The Coach's Perspective

Our 2010 southern swing was an interesting one. The weather cooperated with little rain (a rain out vs. Campbell University as the only blip) but the temps barely reached out of the 40's on most days. Actually, it is the same weather we will be playing in most of the season.

A 5-8 record is not something to jump for joy for, but we did get to see if the offense was improved and if we were going to compete when the going got tough. It looks like the answer to both is a, Yes. We had a day verses North Carolina A&T that I was disappointed with but we came out to compete in every other game. I think we learned that we can't just show up...we have to be at our best every day. That is the ONLY way you can compete with Atlantic 10 teams.

We came back hitting .229 as a team which is an improvement but it still needs to be higher. If we can get into the .250 range we can compete for a championship. Anything less and it will be tough to win in the A10. Defensively we played well for being the first 13 games on a real field and we saw progress from players that needed to step up. That is an encouraging sign. The pitchers threw well at times but we have to stay away from walks and hit batters. Any time you put more runners on...it makes it tough to stop good teams.

The most encouraging signs were how aggressive we were on the base paths and how we swung the bat on most days. We were looking to score a lot of runs. The biggest things we need to remember is that hitting is an art form. We can't go up looking to hit every ball out of the park...we need to look for great at bats when the game is on the line. If we do that, more and more clutch hits will come. Fundamentals are the Winning Edge...you win games by doing things right.

The TOP 5 Hitters through 13 Games...
.316 Shelly Seeger (JR) 6-19, 4 runs scored, 4 RBI
.308 Jessenia Andujar (FR) 12-39, 12 runs scored, 5 RBI
.278 Hali Enderby (FR) 5-18, 5 runs scored, 1 RBI
.243 Maureen Wells (JR) 9-37, 7 runs scored, 1 RBI
.235 Brooke Frey (SO) 8-34, 6 runs scored, 8 RBI


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