The University of Indianapolis softball team has been preparing for the upcoming Great Lakes Valley Conference tournament beginning April 30, according to UIndy Athletics.
Head Coach Melissa Frost said this season has been different from last year’s due to a different lineup. The team lost nine senior players and gained seven new starters, according to Frost.
“I think anytime that the dynamic of the team changes with that many people and that many personalities, it takes a bit of time to find a way to mesh,” Frost said. “Hopefully, we’re coming together.”
The team is 33-19 on the season and 15-11 in conference. Its biggest wins came in double headers against Lake Erie and Quincy, according to UIndy Athletics, with three of the four wins being in double digits.
Although adjusting to a different lineup takes time, Frost said she is proud of the team’s effort as they approach the conference tournament. She said she hopes the team continues this perseverance into the postseason.
“Just this last week, we saw a tremendous amount of fight from them,” Frost said. “We have been in some extra-inning games and really seen some good, positive things come out of that. Some of our younger ladies have stepped up, which is also great to see as well. But I think that more than anything, I just have praised them on their fight and really just kind of getting after it within the last week and to carry that into this next week.”
Junior first baseman Shelby Cook said she is impressed with the team’s openness to changes and new situations throughout the season. She said many of the players have had to push themselves out of their comfort zones in order to succeed.
“I think we’ve done a good job of being open to being in uncomfortable situations,” Cook said. “We’ve had a lot of girls switch positions and play places that they maybe aren’t used to. We’ve also moved people around in our lineup a lot, just to kind of figure out what’s working.”
Cook has averaged a .303 batting average this season, with a game-winning hit in the team’s game against Illinois-Springfield, according to UIndy Athletics and 43 total hits this season.
Similarly, Frost said she is proud of so many different players stepping up and making important contributions to games. She said she is glad to see so many standout moments in games from their lineup.
“It seems like somebody different has stepped up in different games to make us super successful,” Frost said. “We had Tori Angles, a senior, hit a monster home run at Ashland. That gave us the tying run. We had Brooklyn Willis, a freshman, hit a three-run home run against Truman. That gave us the go ahead lead, and we had Cheyenne Eads that threw a two-hitter against one of the top hitting teams in the conference, so I think we’ve had contributions from a little bit of everybody.”
When thinking about conference tournament, Cook said she hopes having a younger team will be an advantage for them. She said they have the opportunity to prove themselves and show their skills at conference.
“We have a lot of freshmen and a lot of people who haven’t gotten to experience this yet,” Cook said. “So I hope that we come out and we are a little bit of a hidden talent because a lot of these teams don’t really know what we have this year, just because we’re so new. I hope that we can come out and just show what we have, and hopefully, come home with the conference title.” The Hounds will begin their conference tournament on April 30 in East Peoria, Illinois. For more information or to follow along with game-by-game updates, go to the GLVC website.
