UIS goes 3 for 3 in weekend preseason games in Missouri

September 24, 2008
By Robert Jackson
Sports Writer

When it was all over one of the few things softball head coach Joe Fisher had to correct his team on publicly was to shake their bags clean of dirt before they boarded the bus.            

Last Sunday the softball team traveled to St. Ann, Mo., to play the Washington University Bears, the Kaskaskia Community College Blue Angels, and the Westminster College Blue Jays.  The Prairie Stars swept their round of tournament matches, yielding two runs in three games.

“We played defense exceptionally well this tournament,” Fisher said.
In the first game against the Bears it was a defensive play by shortstop Jessica Wolff that preserved a 0-0 tie.

For the Bears, the game was a continuation of their final two months of last year’s regular season where they were outscored 9-3 in the seventh and extra innings.

After allowing a base runner on a fielding error on Kristan Delafeld, the Bears’ Corissa Santos bunted, moving her teammate, Rebecca Salisbury, into scoring position at second base.  The very next at-bat, the Prairie Stars would allow another base runner, Megan Fieser, after JoAnna Eddy bobbled a grounder hit her way.

With runners on first and third, Bears head coach Leticia Pineda-Boutte called for Fieser to steal second base, hoping the threat of Salisbury stealing home would create enough hesitation in the defense for Fieser to easily advance to second base.

Fieser, however, froze in the base path, allowing Wolff to check the runner on third, before tossing the ball to Delafeld to tag Fieser.

Delafeld then alertly snapped a quick throw home in time for catcher Emmarie Snyder to dive to her left to tag out Salisbury, who tried to slide around the catcher to steal home after the confusion between first and second base.

“We didn’t execute and recognize the situations we were in today—it comes down to execution,” Pineda-Boutte said after the game.  “That’s the name of the game.  The team that can execute will win the game, especially in a close one like today.”

Ironically, in the top of the seventh inning, the Prairie Stars would score their lone two runs on the same exact play the Bears tried to use to plate their first run in the bottom of the third.

In the next game against the Blue Angels Wolff knocked in two runs after hitting a hard grounder past the third baseman and shortstop into the left field grass in the bottom of the third to add to the 1-0 lead the Prairie Stars built in the first half.

The Prairie Stars would add three more runs, leaving the Blue Angels to cycle through three pitchers for the game.

Wolff, who did not play in the previous two games on Sept. 7, went 7-10 for the tournament batting out of the third spot in the lineup.
“She’s just a natural hitter,” Fisher explained.

In the nightcap against the Blue Jays newcomer Laura Wright struggled with command throughout the game, allowing three base runners in the first inning alone.  For the game Blue Jays stranded nine runners on base, but only managing to score one.       

“We’re just a young team with no seniors still trying to adjust to this level of softball,” Blue Jays head coach Nicole Stacey said after the game.  “But we’re making drastic improvements every time we’re out there.”

The 3-0 record came against two Division III schools and one community college.  Fellow AMC tournament participants, McKendree, Columbia, and William Woods, played a Division II opponent.

Fisher, however, was not rueful on missing the chance to play a Division II opponent because several will be on the Prairie Stars’ regular season schedule during the spring.

The Prairie Stars will finish their preseason in Dupo, Ill., in October.  For now, Fisher is identifying areas to work on leading up to the regular season.

“Offensively we need to work on pitch selection and covering the outside part of the plate.”