|
Scots part of 'wide open' field at conference championships Release Date:
April 29, 2009
MONMOUTH, Ill. —
For the first time since the 2003-04 seasons, Monmouth
College will be making back-to-back appearances at the Midwest
Conference Softball Championships.
The Scots punched their ticket to the post-season with a 4-0 win
over Grinnell Tuesday behind the solid pitching of reigning South
Division Pitcher of the Year Sarah Christensen and the timely
hitting of freshman Jessica Markley.
Holding a precarious 2-0 lead in the top of the seventh, head
coach John Goddard called Markley off the bench with two
outs. With two strikes, the left-handed slugger fought off a couple
of tough pitches before shooting a two-run single into left, giving
the Scots a pair of much-needed insurance runs.
“Sarah was very good,” said Goddard of his pitcher’s clutch
performance. “Jessica’s hit really took the wind out of Grinnell’s
sail and Sarah finished them off in the bottom of the inning.”
The Scots will travel to Ripon, Wis., for the four-team league
tournament this Friday and Saturday. At stake is a league title and
the NCAA Regional Tournament berth that goes with it.
While the Scots’ chances may look bleak on paper – they’re just
1-3 against the tournament field of St. Norbert, Ripon and Lake
Forest – Goddard sees it as anyone’s championship to win.
“The field is really wide open this year,” said last year’s South
Division Coach of the Year. “There isn’t any team in the field that
can’t win the tournament. We split with Lake Forest (9-2, 6-10) and
lost in the last inning to both Ripon (4-3) and St. Norbert (a
deceptive 17-5 score) at the Midwest Classic. We led St. Norbert 5-3
in the seventh until the wheels fell off.”
Lake Forest split with St. Norbert and Ripon at the Classic two
weeks ago – defeating the Green Knights 9-0 and falling to the Red
Hawks 4-3.
Ripon, Monmouth’s first-round opponent, is the only team in the
field above .500 at 18-12. Both Monmouth and Lake Forest had to
finish the season with wins to get to the break-even mark. St.
Norbert enters Wednesday’s regular season finale with an 11-16
record. Like the South qualifiers, the North teams also split their
double-header.
The Scots emerged from a seven-game losing streak to qualify for
their second tournament appearance under Goddard. Unlike the streak,
the Scots are now healthy and have all the pieces in their normal
places.
Those pieces include the Scots’ pitching staff, which has an 0.27
ERA over the last four games, and five regulars hitting over .300,
led by freshman speedster Lauren Bergstresser (.374) and her
school-record 23 stolen bases. The Scots boast the league’s
third-best team batting average. At .286, they’re slightly ahead of
St. Norbert.
Monmouth’s bats will be put to the test in the opener with the
Red Hawks and their 1.90 team ERA. The tourney hosts are led by
career strikeout leader and last year’s North Division Pitcher of
the Year, Andrea Knorr.
In the April 18 meeting with Ripon, Scots’ freshman b matched the
veteran pitch-for-pitch until an error in the seventh opened the
door.
“Ellissa took the loss in the Ripon game, but pitched very well,”
reported Goddard. “She’s actually pitched very well in her last two
starts, but we haven’t scored the runs. Our entire pitching staff
(Christensen, Sexton, Amanda Murdock, Ashley Tocha and
Megan Butler) has really pitched extremely well down the
stretch. If we can get the same quality pitching from them, we have
a shot at winning every game.”
The field is exactly the way the pre-season coaches poll
predicted it would be – Ripon and Lake Forest No. 1 in the North and
the South, St. Norbert and Monmouth the No. 2 teams. Ripon (2008),
St. Norbert (2007) and Lake Forest (2006) have won the last three
titles. The Foresters actually won five straight from 2002-06.
Monmouth’s last league title came in 1987.
Goddard is hoping they’re due.
|
