Even in the heart of the Big Ten regular season, Northwestern softball coach Sharon Drysdale is keeping an eye on the future.
She and Wildcats’ assistants Kate Drohan and Christy Hebert are already formulating plans and comparing potential lineup cards for 2001. And with nine freshmen on a 19-person roster, there are a lot of possibilities.
As a result, the coaches have tried to work as many freshmen into games as possible. Two of them — third baseman Alyson Schulz and rightfielder Brett Nakabayashi — have cracked the starting lineup, and Lauren Schwendimann and Brie Brown have pitched most of the team’s innings.
But even with the four regulars, it has been difficult to get everyone playing time.
“I would like to be able to get people into the game,” Drysdale said, “but the way the season has gone thus far, we’ve either played from behind or we’ve played one-run games and we really haven’t had very many opportunities to play people. Once you get down to this stage of the season and you start going with a set lineup, you don’t like to change things very much.”
LOGJAM ON THE LEFT SIDE: Third base in particular has been problematic for Drysdale. Currently, Schulz is starting, but Brooke Siebel, Robyn Pettinger and Brie Brown also can play the position.
But with Siebel nursing injuries and taking on the role of designated player and Brown shouldering a heavy pitching load, Schulz and Pettinger have had the position to themselves.
Schulz has seen most of the action, leaving Pettinger as a pinch hitter. But Drysdale said that’s not a choice the coaches enjoyed making.
“Both third basemen — Robyn Pettinger and Alyson Schulz — they can’t both play third next year. They’re too good,” she said. “They both need to play. So if one of them is going to be playing third next year, I need to find a place for the other one.”
As a result, both players have moved around a little in practice. Pettinger may play shortstop next year — current starter Tami Jones is a senior — and Schulz has seen some time at first, where the Cats have two more seniors on the depth chart.
ALUMINUM FOIL: Sophomore Erin Jancic has been on a tear as of late, and it’s earned her the distinction of being NU’s Female Athlete of the Week — the fourth consecutive week the award has been given to a softball player. But Jancic, who hit .429 with five extra-base hits to boost her season average to .330, doesn’t attribute her 10-game hit streak to a change in mechanics.
“I have a new bat,” Jancic said. “I tried it out and my first at-bat was a grand slam.”
But Jancic is realistic in admitting that it’s not just a new bat that’s propelled her to such a hot stretch.
“It’s all mental and I started getting a couple hits here and there,” she said, “and I just started getting confidence and feel like I’m really hot right now.”
