By Ed Morrone
With all of the talk about the fabulous performances by the Pride’s pitching staff this season, the offense has been overlooked. After last weekend, people should start taking notice that this team can hit, too.
Junior shortstop Laura Sweeney went 7-for-12 and junior second baseman Lisa Wambold smashed her tenth home run of the season to help carry the Pride to a three-game sweep over Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) rival University of North Carolina-Wilmington this past weekend at Hofstra Softball Stadium.
With a large part of the credit bestowed upon senior pitchers Adrienne Clark and Callie Osborne for the team’s success this year, the offense has been kept in the shadows. So much emphasis has been put on the importance of Clark and Osborne-and rightfully so, as the two pitchers have been spectacular-that many opponents have forgotten that the lineup is armed with a lot of weapons.
“We’ve been putting a lot of emphasis on our hitting and working really hard on it,” head coach Bill Edwards said. “We have confidence in all of our hitters and know that any one of them can go on a hot streak anytime. We don’t ask any one person to carry the load for us because we know that all of our hitters can step up. The main thing is we’re getting great swings at good pitches.”
The two ace pitchers turned in their usual stellar performances. Osborne threw a shutout in the first game of the series and Clark in the third, but the offense was there to back both of them up. Osborne was given a quick two-run cushion in the bottom of the first inning in the series opener on Wambold’s home run and an RBI single by first baseman Hailey Clark. The Pride (27-12-1, 7-1 CAA) scored three more for Osborne, who set a new school record in the 5-0 win with her 12th consecutive victory. Fast forwarding to Sunday’s series finale, the Pride spotted Adrienne Clark four runs in the first inning en route to an easy 7-0 win.
However, it was in the middle game of the three-game set that the offense showed it could help win games for the Pride. With Adrienne Clark struggling (six runs in 5 1/3 innings pitched), the lineup had to bail one of its pitchers out for a change. In a back-and-forth battle, the Seahawks (20-35, 2-7) took a 6-5 lead into the bottom of the sixth inning, determined to give the Pride just its third ever home loss against a CAA opponent. But Wambold tied the game with a sacrifice fly in the sixth and Sweeney’s bases loaded single in the last of the seventh won it.
“Our pitching is always going to be there and we know that,” Sweeney said. “We just have to make sure we’re hitting the ball and we’ll win games. People are getting timely hits right now and we’re getting on base when we need to, which should really help us in the upcoming games.”
The sweep paved the way for a showdown with another conference rival this coming weekend when the Tigers of Towson University visit for three games. The series will prove pivotal considering the Pride’s three wins over the Seahawks improved their conference record to 7-1, tying it for first place with Towson. The Tigers played non-conference opponents last weekend, which gave the Pride the chance to tie them in the standings. The Towson series is a crucial one, especially since the Pride needs to win as many conference games as possible so that it earns the right to host the CAA postseason tournament.
“We want to come out strong and be ready for Towson,” Sweeney said. “If we continue to play like we are right now then we should be fine.”
Against Towson, the Pride’s offense must continue to come up big. As of Tuesday, Towson’s staff earned run average (ERA) was a paltry 2.00. In comparison, the Pride, which is known for its pitching, has an ERA of 2.25. It will be a tall order for the Pride to produce runs against a very talented pitching staff, but if it can provide some clutch hits to help beat a tough conference rival, maybe more people will take notice that this team isn’t all about its pitching.
However, Edwards warned against placing too much emphasis on the Towson series, especially with nine games still to be played.
“It is a big series, but is it bigger than any of the others we’ve had? “No. We can’t get caught up in beating Towson and who will host [the CAA Tournament] because there’s still a lot of softball to be played,” Edwards said. “We just need to go out and play our game and things should work out just fine.”