The Hillsdale College softball team won 5-3 against Texas A&M International on Friday February 11th after a weekend of five games in Portland, Texas. They lost the other games 7-1 against St. Mary’s, 4-1 against Texas A&M International, and 20-1 and 8-0 against Texas A&M- Kingsville.
“Confidence is built through practice, and executing that practice,” Head Coach Kyle Gross said. “Confidence just kind of has to come from within. Even if you lose or strikeout that cannot necessarily affect the next game or next at bat.”
This weekend the team had eight total runs, 23 hits, and one home run hit by junior Jenna Cantalupo after recently returning from labrum surgery.
“We knew it was gonna be tough because we’ve never played that kind of competition before,” fifth year senior catcher Madison Stoner said. “It was our first time out this season, so it was nice to actually be able to play, especially outside. It was in the 40s, 50s but definitely better than here.”
Saturday’s games came with a wind advisory and 40 mph winds that, on multiple occasions, made foul balls into fair plays and carried balls over the fence. Sunday the wind died down, but temperatures remained around 40 degrees.
“It was like watching chickens running around,” Stoner said. “It’s an uncontrollable factor. So you have to continue to play your best game, despite the uncontrollable. The biggest thing that we need to control is our mindset. You have to continue to have the same intensity and the same mindset like ‘okay, we’ll get the next one.’”
According to Gross, areas of improvement for the team include execution of defense strategies, communication, and speed. On the other hand, Stoner batted .500 all weekend and freshman pitcher Joni Russell pitched her first winning game.
“This was the best I’ve ever pitched mentally,” Russell said. “I was just really confident and really focused on just playing for my team, and I’ve never been like that before. When I did, I was successful, and so I was like, ‘I should do that more.’”
The team is revving up for five games at the Rosemont Dome outside of Chicago for the weekend of the 25th-27th.
“These five games are really important for us,” Stoner said. “At the end of the regular season, they do regional rankings, and if you’re one of the top however many teams, you get an automatic bid into the postseason. If we come out of there with four or five wins, we’re set up really good for the postseason.”
