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BUILDING A FOUNDATION | YSU softball team relies on younger players
Softball team makes strides toward contending for a league championship
By JON MOFFETT
jmoffett@vindy.com
YOUNGSTOWN
Brian Campbell knows in order to build a strong house, you have to have a solid foundation.
Photo
YSU SOFTBALL - (2) Kristina Rendle can't come up with the ball as (15) Heather Stiglich slides in safe Thursday afternoon in Canfield. - Special to The Vindicator/Nick Mays
That’s why the second-year Youngstown State softball coach is excited about the group of players he has on the roster for 2010 and beyond.
“The foundation has to be set before you can get the walls up,” he said, “and I think this year we’re starting to set that foundation.”
The YSU softball team is young.
With only four seniors and four juniors on the roster, the Penguins (5-12) and Campbell rely heavily on their younger players.
“We are a better team than we were last year,” he said. “Understand that we’re still a young team; we have one senior starter. The rest are freshmen and sophomores.”
And while the record is unspectacular, Campbell said you have to take it with a grain of salt.
A hitting specialist, Campbell said the team is “hitting the heck out of the ball” but is not getting many breaks.
“If you look at our past 13 games, we’re 5-8, and we’ve lost seven of those eight by one or two runs,” he said.
“Softball is a game of inches, and right now, as far as hitting, if we could buy a few inches the outcome of at least seven of those games could be reversed.”
Hoping to reverse the trend is a stable of young players who are just focused on this season as they are the future.
“I think the season is going incredible,” said junior first baseman Kim Klonowski. “Our record is not where we want it to be, but we’re playing very sound defensively, and our pitching is doing well. We just need to get a few key hits in those situations and we’re doing great.”
It’s not like the hitting hasn’t been there.
Campbell said the team is hitting the ball well. Those hits just happen to be right at a defender.
Klonowski said she and other players have taken it upon themselves to lead by example.
The Canton, Mich., native has started all 17 games for the Penguins and is second with 20 hits. Sophomore Haley Thomas is first with 21.
Thomas said she has noticed a difference from last year and thinks the Penguins can be a factor come Horizon League tournament time.
“I’ve just noticed that we’re all on the same page as far as what needs to get done in the ball game,” she said. “Everybody is pulling their weight and doing their job just as they need to. If we stay on that road, [good] things will happen for us.”
Meanwhile, freshman catcher Vicky Rumph said the team’s seven-game trip to Orlando earlier this month helped build more than just a strong foundation.
She said the players bonded and grew closer as teammates and friends.
“I think it just brought us all closer together,” she said. “We were living together for a whole week. And as a team, you learn a lot more about everyone. I’m new, and I learned a ton about my teammates.”
Klonowski, who has a .333 batting average and a team-high 18 RBIs, said those relationships are beginning to show with the team’s performance on the field.
“We’re just one, big, huge family of 18 girls, and on the field, it shows,” she said.
“We’re making plays because we trust each other more, and it’s really helping. And once the fire goes, we are in it.”