By Ed Morrone
Setting the school record in earned run average is certainly a tough act to follow. Callie Osborne is giving it her best shot.
The senior starting pitcher tossed two complete-game shutouts over the weekend and helped her team to a three-game sweep over Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) rival University of Delaware.
Osborne, whose 0.79 ERA last season was a school record, pitched a total of 14 innings, giving up no runs and five hits while walking three and striking out 15. Osborne appears to have put her early season struggles behind her and has now won ten straight games after a 3-5 start.
“I just take things day-by-day,” said Osborne, who is in her second season with the Pride after transferring from Briarcliffe Junior College. “I think I’ve found my groove, but then again I don’t think that I ever really lost it. Things are just clicking now and are coming together for both me and the rest of the team. The defense and hitting has been awesome lately, and that just gives the pitchers more confidence out there.”
Osborne’s heroics couldn’t have come at a better time for the Pride, which needs her and fellow senior pitcher Adrienne Clark to be at their very best if the team has any chance of making repeating another deep run into the NCAA Tournament. Clark also appears to be returning to form after a recent illness kept her out of the pitching circle for almost three weeks, as she threw a one-hit shutout in the one game that Osborne didn’t pitch in.
In the opening game of Friday’s doubleheader, Osborne allowed just three hits and got all the run support she needed in the top of the sixth inning. Junior second baseman Lisa Wambold reached on a bunt single, stole second and third base before crossing the plate because of an error. Clark followed with her one-hit gem in a 6-0 win for the Pride (23-12 overall, 4-1 CAA).
“It was great to have our two pitchers that we need to succeed peaking right now, especially because we’re about to play some really good teams,” Pride head coach Bill Edwards said. “We need both Adie and Callie to continue throwing the way that they are. We just have to make sure that they’re ready to go and hopefully everything else should fall into place.”
Osborne again showed her skill in following tough acts, giving a fabulous encore on Saturday, nearly pitching a no-hitter. She appeared to be poised to accomplish the feat before Delaware (16-17, 3-6) senior first baseman and pitcher Jenn Joseph stroked a line-drive single up the middle to lead off the seventh inning. Osborne settled for a two-hitter in the Pride’s 3-0 win. She got a bit more run support in the second game, getting RBI hits from sophomore catcher Ashley Lane and senior leftfielder Lisa Torres in the first two innings. Wambold continued her torrid hitting, going 2-for-4 with a home run and a double a day after she used her speed to help Osborne get her first win of the series.
The 10 runs in three games that the Pride manufactured isn’t extremely encouraging, especially for an offense that has battled inconsistency at times during the year. However, 10 will be plenty as long as Osborne and Clark continue to pitch this well.
The schedule has gotten to where the Pride really needs to get these kinds of pitching performances from its two aces. The Pride seems to be responding to the challenge, as the team has compiled a 22-6 record since Feb. 23 and is rolling at precisely the right time.
But the Pride can’t rest on its laurels yet, as it still has 20 games remaining before the CAA post-season tournament. The team knows it will only go as far as Osborne and Clark take the team. And although this seems like an awful lot of pressure to put on the duo, it’s a burden the team doesn’t realize, and this oblivion is probably a good thing for the Pride.
“If I was asking them to go out and strike out 17 batters because we can’t play defense, then yeah, I’d say there would be some pressure,” Edwards said. “There isn’t pressure on these pitchers when all they have to do is throw strikes because they know that the defense is behind them. We’re not asking them to do anything that any other team isn’t asking its pitchers to do.”
Osborne concurred.
“I like the pressure, but I don’t really see the season as pressure,” she said. “We get excited for these games, not nervous. It isn’t about pressure. We just want to work hard and have fun at the same time.”