The Northwestern softball team has been haunted by first inning woes in its last four games. The Wildcats (13-17) have allowed a total of 12 first-inning runs in back-to-back doubleheader sweeps by Illinois and Wisconsin.
Coach Sharon Drysdale said NU’s first-inning problems are products of the players’ imaginations – mental roadblocks that put the team in a hole. But that doesn’t change the reality of a four-game losing streak. NU trailed after the first inning in each of the four losses.
“Some of it is because we gave up runs early a couple of times and that makes you nervous,” Drysdale said. “It’s a result of their imagination working against them.”
The Cats will try to get a decent start when they take on Loyola University (10-14) in a doubleheader today at Softball Park. NU knocked off the Ramblers 7-4 last year.
The problems may be in the Cats’ head, but they don’t plan on sitting back and hoping that they can get through the first inning. NU has tried to simulate the first inning against Loyola in practice all week.
“The key to come out of this is we have to get sharper,” Drysdale said. “We haven’t put all phases of our game together yet and we have to turn that around. We have to be in game-like situations.”
Simulation isn’t the only step NU is taking. The Cats will make sure that sophomore starting pitchers Brie Brown and Lauren Schwendimann are more than warmed up by game time. Suddenly, the first out has become as important as the last.
Brown and Schwendimann aren’t solely to blame for the slow starts. The duo hasn’t been getting much support from the defense. In the last two games, NU has committed five errors and given up seven unearned runs.
“It’s been a combination of defensive breakdowns and a pitching breakdown,” Drysdale said.
It isn’t that the Cats aren’t capable of making good plays on defense – they have plenty of talent. It’s just that they lack experience – NU has only one senior on the squad.
“The errors that we make are mental mistakes more than physical,” junior leftfielder Rane Gunderson said. “We just need to sit back, relax and play our game.”
Earlier in the season, NU was able to make up for its defensive struggles with an aggressive offense. But lately, the Cats have been struggling to get baserunners, let alone runs.
In its first game against Illinois on Friday, NU had only three hits. Things improved in Game 2, where the Cats managed eight hits, but they still scored only two runs.
“Our (style) throughout the season has been that we score a lot of runs on a few hits,” Drysdale said. “Lately we’ve been getting our hits with two outs. When you don’t get runners on early, it’s really hard to press them.”
Unfortunately for the Cats, a slump is nothing new. NU went eight games without a victory earlier this season before a 9-7 win over Cal-State Northridge ended the drought.
With a visit to Loyola, the Cats hope to end this streak soon, especially with Indiana and Purdue coming to town over the weekend.
“We have to pull out of it now before it gets any later,” freshman infielder Carri Leto said. “Playing Loyola on Wednesday night will help us get started with some wins.”
