Photo courtesy of UMHB athletics
What was a four-game win streak entering the weekend soon became a seven-game winning spurt for the UMHB softball team, and the sweep over UT-Dallas has positioned the Cru nicely.
With a home series against last-place Ozarks set for this Friday and Saturday, UMHB sits atop the conference standings, currently leading ETBU by a single game. In a league that has been controlled at the top by the Tigers of ETBU for quite some time, the Crusaders sitting in first place at this point in the year is a notable achievement.
“Going into the series the girls had a lot of play for,” UMHB head coach Melissa Mojica said. “We put ourselves in a good position by taking the lead in the ASC and they’re just motivated. They’re motivated to finish, staying focused on our dugout, and what our team does best.”
The victories over the Comets came in a perfect expanding margin. Game one, a true “pitcher’s duel”, was decided by a single run, as UMHB prevailed 2-1, thanks to a one-hitter from pitcher Kami Flores and a home run from Izzy Gutierrez in the TKth inning.
UMHB then turned around and won the second game of Friday’s doubleheader, this time by three runs, 7-4, holding off a late rally from the hosts that saw UTD push two across in the final frame.
And in Saturday’s series finale, the Crusaders left Richardson with a statement, shutting out UTD by a 5-0 score, shedding a slow start at the plate en route to a four-run fifth inning that blew the game wide open in their favor. Even more notable, the wins in game one and game three came against UTD ace Emilie Hoelscher, who leads the ASC in strikeouts.”
“Finding a way to put a couple hits together and scoring a couple runs was huge in order to beat her,” Mojica said. “Things are going well for us. The defense is playing well. The pitchers are staying consistent, keeping the ball in the ballpark, which is huge. The defense gives us lots of opportunity to come back up on offense and take care of business.”
The defensive effort displayed over the weekend was nothing short of superb; shortstop Lindsey Polleschultz took away what appeared to be a surefire single at one point in game three, center fielder Lexi Harris came up with a few exceptional catches in the outfield, and catcher Blakely Niles kept UTD from gaining any kind of advantage on the basepaths.
“Yesterday, [pitcher] Kami [Flores] got in a jam, and walked a couple of batters,” Mojica said. “Blakely then threw out two kids trying to steal second. She picked off another at first. Today she picked off another baserunner [at first base]. That’s a huge out, when there are people on base with no outs, and our catcher can come up with a play like that.”
The Cru had an unusually long break between games, going nine days from a doubleheader sweep of Hardin-Simmons to Friday’s doubleheader sweep over the Comets, thanks to rain and an already-planned-for Easter break. Mojica said that the extended time off did not phase her team much, but it did allow for a sort of reset that should help the Cru power on through the conclusion of the regular season, which has three weekends left.
“I feel like it worked out well for us, especially because we had some kids with sore arms who just needed a break,” Mojica added. “They came back on Monday, and were in a great mood. We had some of the best defensive practices we’ve had maybe all year. It gave the girls confidence going in.”
Armed with both confidence and maturity, the Cru is 21-9 with exactly nine games left on the ASC slate. Then it is on to the ASC Tournament. The maturity aspect is not exclusively a correlation to the number of upperclassmen on the roster. It also deals with the approach to the good and the bad, and the adjustments made after what could be considered a disappointing performance.
Polleschultz best displayed this on Saturday, when, after going hitless in the first two games of the series, she tallied two hits and scored twice, the only player in the lineup to do so.
“We talk about making an adjustment on every pitch,” Mojica said. “As soon as the doubleheader was over on Friday, Lindsey was like, ‘What do I need to do?’ She pulled up the film on the bus, looked at her at-bats, and fixed it today.
“She swung at better pitches and let the ball get deeper in the zone. You can’t get beat by the same thing every at-bat. That’s all we can do. We don’t have anybody hitting .500 or 10 home runs, but we have kids who work hard and know how to adjust to win a ballgame.”
UMHB battles Ozarks in a doubleheader beginning at 4 p.m. on Friday in Belton. The series finale is set for 12 p.m. Saturday.
