Women’s golf nears postseason play
The University of Indianapolis women’s golf team tied for first place at the Northern Kentucky Invitational on March 26 before losing a scorecard playoff to Depauw University. Freshmen Amy Thompson and Brianna Scheidler led the Greyhound charge with respective second-place and sixth-place finishes.
Junior Darin Pinnick prepares to hit the ball at the Northern Kentucky University Invitational March 26. Photo contributed by sports information.
Junior Darin Pinnick and freshman Jenny Konop tied for 18th place, while senior Hillary Wenning rounded out the Greyhound scores with a tie for 114th place.
The victory was the Greyhounds’ first competition since their Spring Break trip to Florida. While there, the team competed in the Don Benbow Invitational and the Sienna College Homewood Suite Invite. They finished 14th and 5th, respectively.
“Spring Break is always tough,” said Head Coach Ken Piepenbrink. “We’re going up against a lot of Florida teams that have been playing all winter long. It’s not really a fair fight when you get down on their turf. The grass plays really differently.”
While on the trip, members concentrated on applying the focus of much of their winter practice: effective technique.
“The more we can solidify their technique, so they don’t have to think about mechanics, the better,” Piepenbrink said. “We pay attention to every detail in the stance and swing.”
Pinnick noted the difference in Indiana and Florida turf.
“The first course we played, there was barely any grass, and it was really hard to hit off of,” Pinnick said. “The second course was nicer, and we transitioned well. But it’s all about adjustment, which can be difficult.”
Over Spring Break, Pinnick finished 24th of 87 competitors at the Don Benbow Invitational. She shared ninth place at the Sienna event.
“In golf, playing on Bermuda grass down in Florida is a totally different technique than on the grass fairways and greens up north,” Piepenbrink said. “These girls, other than Darin, had little experience playing on that sort of turf, and the adjustments took time.”
According to Piepenbrink, the strong showing at the Sienna Invite gave the team a boost of confidence before the NKU Invitational.
“I think an advantage for my team is that the girls are all very intelligent people and students,” Piepenbrink said. “We had very adverse conditions at NKU. It was very cold and windy, but their mental stamina paid off, and they were able to stay focused.”
Pinnick felt well prepared for the updated course.
“I know the course fairly well by now,” she said. “They moved some tee boxes around, so it either played shorter or so you couldn’t take advantage of a par 5, but it was so cold you couldn’t really tell.”
The NKU Invitational gave the Greyhounds a chance to scout out local competitors.
“We really stressed how big the competition at the NKU event was,” Pinnick said. “A lot of our conference and regional competition was there, and we really needed to make a statement to them.”
Fellow GLVC schools Kentucky Wesleyan University, NKU, Bellarmine University and Maryville University finished 22nd, 16th, 15th and 8th, respectively.
The Greyhounds will compete next at the Illinois Wesleyan Spring Fling April 16-17. It will be their last tournament before the GLVC Conference Tournament April 22-23.
