After leaving Alabama with a 1-3 record, the University of Memphis softball team has several things to be happy about. The team has not had much outdoor practice time because of the arctic Memphis weather this year, and the 2014 squad features several players making their first appearances as everyday positional players, including four freshman who started in at least three of the games last weekend.
Head coach Natalie Poole said there were several things to take away from the 2014 Troy Subway Invitational, and the team is looking at what they're doing right and what they need to correct as opposed to their wins and losses.
"With three one-run ball games, we were in all of the games this weekend," Poole said. "Our offense could have had a better presence this weekend. We need to work on that and to play with confidence and control at the plate."
The Tigers opened the tournament with a win against Middle Tennessee State University. In their first game of the season, Memphis scored two runs in the first inning, each from RBI doubles, the first by freshman infielder Brittany Vaughn and the second by senior infielder Kelly Braman. MTSU responded in the sixth with a two-out two-run home run.
In the bottom of the seventh, the score was tied with a runner on third and two outs. Tigers' senior outfielder Ijiah Hargrove reacted to an infield that was shifted too far back and laid down a bunt that gave sophomore outfielder Wheeler Hill enough time to cross home and score the game-winning run for the Tigers. Freshman Christian Novak got the nod as the starter and threw five strikeouts in her six frames.
Coach Poole said that Hargrove made the decision to bunt based on what she saw from the defense. It surprised MTSU, working to perfection.
"She did a nice job of reading the defense," Poole said. "At times we direct the players on situations, we had conversations about the options in those situations, and often times we let them take the initiative."
In two of the next three games, the Tigers were down one run going into the seventh, but failed to come back in either game. Memphis senior Ellen Roberts, an Australian native, was the starting pitcher in both of those games and finished the weekend with 12 1/3 innings pitched, striking out nine and yielding five earned runs.
Memphis played four games in three days in Alabama, but they continue tournament play with five games in three days this upcoming weekend at the Ragin' Cajuns Invitational in Lafayette, La.
The Tigers start the tournament on Friday afternoon with a doubleheader, playing Michigan - the fifth ranked team in the nation - as well as the 13th ranked team in the nation and tournament host the University of Louisiana-Lafayette. Poole's squad will also play Valparaiso University on Sunday and Boston College on Friday night and again Saturday morning.
Coach Poole said the team will work on situational hitting this week and defensive situations, and she hopes to get some work outdoors before the tournament. With a week between games, the team gets a lot of time to practice before their heavy weekend workload.
"Five games is a little much, but this many games gives us an opportunity to recover quickly," Poole said. "We have chances to redeem ourselves. This many games definitely helps the nerves, and the tournaments should help to get our offensive groove going."
