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April 05, 2005
Softball has bumpy start to season on spring break trip
The Hamline softball team wrapped up their spring-break trip by finishing with a record of 1-7 in the Tucson Invitational Games.
“We played some good competition,” head coach Janelle Tieken said. “But we need to definitely iron out some wrinkles.”
The Pipers started their trip out on the right foot, defeating Colorado College 4-3 and ending the game with their third defensive double play of the day. They dropped their next six games but rebounded in great fashion against Muscatine Community College, where the Pipers rocked Muscatine’s pitching staff and took the game 12-7. Leading the way for the Pipers was senior Amanda Gage. The win won’t count in
NCAA stats, because Muscatine is not a four-year institution. It will be recorded as an exhibition win.
Gage went 5-for-5 in the game with a home run, triple and a total of seven runs batted in.
The Pipers finished their trip in Tucson with a loss to Iowa foe Buena Vista, 16-7.
Tieken said she knew pitching would be tested going into this tournament.
“We have two freshmen with no college experience, and our main pitcher [Niki Seal] is still recovering from off-season surgery. I know that we will develop and get better as the season continues,” Tieken said.
One aspect the Pipers began to improve on during the tournament was capitalizing on opportunities with runners in scoring position.
“We definitely did not do this well at the beginning part of the tournament, but we continually showed signs of improvement in taking advantage of the scoring opportunity,” Tieken said.
A bright spots for the Pipers was the play of first-year Sara Mickelson. Mickelson had a batting average of .545, three home runs, and 11 RBIs in the tournament.
Another bright spot for the Pipers was sophomore Holly Wiborg, who averaged .478 at the plate and “played a solid second base for us,” Tieken said.
Rachael Young and Amanda Gage also contributed for the Pipers. Young, the team’s leadoff hitter, averaged .370, and Gage averaged .364.
Aside from playing a lot of softball (nine games in six days), the Pipers had opportunities for sightseeing, rock climbing, and team building.
“They really had a good time rock climbing,” Tieken said. “I think the team did really well with some of the team bonding exercises that we did. It gave everyone a chance to enjoy each other outside of softball and helped build the team’s spirit.”
Heading into conference play, there are still things the team needs to do in order to reach the goals that they established at the beginning of the season.
“We need to establish a winning lineup,” Tieken said. “Once we do that, we will really get to see what we got and be prepared to take on our conference schedule and try to qualify for the regional tournament.”
Posted by msveum at April 5, 2005 09:32 PM
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