Massachusetts Daily Collegian

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A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

UMass meets national powerhouses this weekend

Collegian File Photo

Fresh off of its opening slate of games last weekend, the UMass softball team will continue to round the country this upcoming weekend as part of the Cathedral City Classic in Cathedral City, Calif.

The Minutewomen are coming off a weekend in which they posted a 2-3 record in the FAU Kickoff Classic – including close losses to then-No. 10 Michigan – and will have their hands full again this weekend when they compete against national powerhouses such as Washington, California and Texas.

Head coach Elaine Sortino is aware of the challenges that await her squad, but also knows the team’s difficult early season schedule will pay dividends for the team come May.

“Obviously we’re going there to play to win,” Sortino said. “We deliberately scheduled these teams because it’s really, really important in our out-of-conference and out-of-region schedule that we go out and play teams that hopefully allow us access to the NCAA Championship.”

Leading UMass on the pitching mound will be junior ace Sara Plourde, who will be called on many times this season by Sortino.

The 2010 national strikeouts leader started four out of the five games last weekend, going the distance each game and earning a 2-2 record, 42 strikeouts and a 1.88 ERA through 26 innings pitched. Her performance this weekend will be a strong indicator of the Minutewomen’s success against the nation’s elite teams.

“I felt very, very encouraged that she was able to have as many strikeouts as she had,” Sortino said. “And to hold a Michigan team on Sunday – and she was pretty tired – I thought she held an extremely explosive offense pretty tight for six innings without her best pitch all weekend.”

On Friday, the Minutewomen are likely to go head-to-head with one of the best pitchers in the nation – No. 14 California’s Jolene Henderson.

In six games this season, the sophomore ace is 5-1 with 34 strikeouts and a 0.80 ERA. Her efforts have already earned her Pac-10 Conference Pitcher of the Week honors twice.

Following its meeting with the Golden Bears, UMass will return to the field Friday night for a date with No. 7 Washington.

The unbeaten Huskies are not led by an ace pitcher, but by a very explosive offense that boasts 20 home runs and 109 total runs in its first eight games. UW has scored at least 17 runs in four games this season, including 23-4 and 22-3 thrashings of UC Riverside two weeks ago.

The schedule doesn’t lighten up for the Minutewomen on Saturday night as they will face off with No. 19 Oklahoma State.

The Cowgirls are led by a tandem of pitchers in freshman Simone Freeman and sophomore Kat Espinosa. Together they have combined for seven of OSU’s eight victories and have totaled 57 strikeouts, while giving up only 18 earned runs (Freeman – 2.00 ERA, Espinosa – 2.23 ERA).

UMass will take on its fourth straight ranked opponent on Sunday afternoon against No. 11 Texas, the first game of a doubleheader that day.

Leading the 10-0 Longhorns are one of the best pitching duos in the nation in sophomore Blaire Luna and freshman Rachel Fox.

Luna, who earned Big 12 Pitcher of the Week honors this past week, leads the team with a 6-0 record, 1.48 ERA and 56 strikeouts. Fox is no slouch either, recording a 4-0 record and 1.62 ERA.

The Minutewomen will close out the weekend in their second game of the double header against Fresno State. Although the Bulldogs are unranked, they are earning votes in the latest polls. At 3-0, they will pose as a formidable foe for UMass.

Michelle Moses will likely engineer the offense for Fresno State, as she leads the team with three home runs in three games and seven hits in 11 at-bats.

Although Plourde and the rest of the UMass pitching staff will be monitored this weekend, the offense will be just as important.

Despite scoring 10 runs to open the weekend against Penn State last week – which included a Katie Bettencourt grand slam – the Minutewomen offense has spiraled since then, mustering just eight runs in the following four games.

“Everbody’s got to step up,” Sortino said. “The thing is you don’t want one kid to always carry the burden. Katie Bettencourt doesn’t always have to have the big swing to get the big runs. That’s a bad way for a team to be. They all need to be able to step up and deliver.”

The first pitch for UMass is scheduled for Friday at approximately 6:30 p.m. at the Big League Dreams Sports Park against California.

Stephen Hewitt can be reached at [email protected].

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    RyanFeb 24, 2011 at 3:21 pm

    sweet! nice artikel

    Reply