Softball earns much-needed wins against KU

Coach Ehren Earleywine remains positive about the team's potential.

By Zach Mink

Published April 9, 2010

The Tigers came into Wednesday sitting at 1-3 in conference and were at a low point in their season. Freshman shortstop Jenna Marston wouldn't let the team sink any longer.

Marston led the Tigers in heroic fashion, hitting a walk-off three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh in game one to bring the Tigers back to life. After being stifled by Kansas senior pitcher Sarah Vertelka for nearly the whole game, Marston blasted Missouri to a 5-4 victory and renewed the faith within the dugout.

Coach Ehren Earleywine had nothing but praise for the freshman, who has performed consistently well for the Tigers this season.

"J.J. is the only one who has given us consistent, professional at-bats the whole season," Earleywine said. "She always puts the ball in play, she has an idea of what she is going to do, she stays within herself and she let us off the hook with that big swing."

Sophomore pitcher Kristin Nottelmann earned the win for the Tigers, giving up four runs on six hits in the complete game effort. Nottelmann improved her record to 8-4 for the season.

With sophomore ace Chelsea Thomas possibly out for the year, the team will rely on Nottelmann to carry the Tigers throughout the rest of the season.

Coach Pete D'Amour acknowledged the added pressure put on the sophomore and is still waiting to see how she will react.

"Of course there is added pressure, but you can use pressure in a good or bad way," D'Amour said. "You can use it as motivation to prove people wrong, or you can give in to it. Whether she uses it for good or bad is what we are waiting on now."

The Tiger offense struggled to get going early in game two and found itself trying to claw back into yet another game. Junior catcher Lisa Simmons ignited the offense in the fourth inning with a pinch-hit three run homer, the first of her college career.

The Tigers continued to pour on the runs until the sixth inning, when Simmons hit a walk-off single to end the game by run rule 10-2. Senior pitcher Jana Hainey picked up her third win of the season, surrendering one run in four innings of relief.

The Tigers improved to 3-3 in Big 12 play. Although many people have written off the Tigers without Thomas, Simmons feels the team could still succeed.

"Chelsea is out, and we miss her, but there are 21 other girls on this team that contribute," Simmons said. "I think that this game gets us back on track to where we need to be and back onto our winning ways with momentum going into Texas."

Earelywine was also quick to come to the defense of the Thomas-less Tiger squad.

"A lot of people are saying to win the College World Series you need a stud pitcher, and maybe that's true, but you still need to play the game," Earleywine said. "We aren't going to throw in the towel just because Chelsea's out, and we will hopefully try to shut some people up in the process."

The Tigers hope to take momentum forward as they continue conference play this weekend at Texas.