'Winds prepare for tough tourney
Michael Vaught
Issue date: 3/6/09 Section: Sports
The upcoming Coach B Classic softball tournament has the 'Winds facing SIU-Edwardsville, the Big Ten's Wisconsin and top-ranked 11-1 SIU-Carbondale this weekend.
The big test should come against No. 18 SIU-Carbondale. Head coach Holly Van Vlymen has a patient approach to preparing the 'Winds for the upcoming games.
"I prefer to take it one game at a time, and we can't get ahead of ourselves focusing on SIU and ignoring Wisconsin and Edwardsville," Van Vlymen said. "We play Carbondale in the last game, which is good because it will give us some time to get outside and get used to the dirt again."
"Edwardsville are the Division-2 World Series Champions from two years ago and Wisconsin, being from the Big Ten, isn't going to be a pushover," Van Vlymen said. "So we have some good games scheduled before then, so I think we'll be ready by the time we face (Carbondale)."
The 'Winds have had success beating larger programs this year, with their last two victories against another Big Ten school in Minnesota.
Defense has been an issue thus far for the 'Winds, giving up two unearned runs in their last contest. Despite having to practice in the gym due to the weather, Van Vlymen isn't letting her players use it as an excuse.
"Even though we haven't been able to simulate a real game, we can't look at it and say it's because we haven't been on dirt," Van Vlymen said. "That's taking ourselves out of the game and a lot of it is mental. We can't let things like this get into our heads."
In the 'Winds' previous tournament, bad weather and a sub-par performance, losing 4-0 to Miami (Ohio) University, hasn't discouraged the morale of the team.
"We lost the only game that we did play," Van Vlymen said. "But you know, we had the same amount of hits as Miami of Ohio, and their only runs came on errors."
Junior pitcher Lori Pankratz pitched well for the 'Winds in her last outing going six innings, recording six strikeouts while allowing two earned runs, and will get another start in this weekend's tournament.
"(Pankratz) pitched a really good game and our hitters got on base but we were unable to get the clutch hits," Van Vlymen said. "The base running was a little shaky."
The 'Winds face Wisconsin on Saturday at 2 p.m., Edwardsville at 10 a.m. on both Saturday and Sunday and finish off the tournament against host SIU-Carbondale at 4 p.m.
The big test should come against No. 18 SIU-Carbondale. Head coach Holly Van Vlymen has a patient approach to preparing the 'Winds for the upcoming games.
"I prefer to take it one game at a time, and we can't get ahead of ourselves focusing on SIU and ignoring Wisconsin and Edwardsville," Van Vlymen said. "We play Carbondale in the last game, which is good because it will give us some time to get outside and get used to the dirt again."
"Edwardsville are the Division-2 World Series Champions from two years ago and Wisconsin, being from the Big Ten, isn't going to be a pushover," Van Vlymen said. "So we have some good games scheduled before then, so I think we'll be ready by the time we face (Carbondale)."
The 'Winds have had success beating larger programs this year, with their last two victories against another Big Ten school in Minnesota.
Defense has been an issue thus far for the 'Winds, giving up two unearned runs in their last contest. Despite having to practice in the gym due to the weather, Van Vlymen isn't letting her players use it as an excuse.
"Even though we haven't been able to simulate a real game, we can't look at it and say it's because we haven't been on dirt," Van Vlymen said. "That's taking ourselves out of the game and a lot of it is mental. We can't let things like this get into our heads."
In the 'Winds' previous tournament, bad weather and a sub-par performance, losing 4-0 to Miami (Ohio) University, hasn't discouraged the morale of the team.
"We lost the only game that we did play," Van Vlymen said. "But you know, we had the same amount of hits as Miami of Ohio, and their only runs came on errors."
Junior pitcher Lori Pankratz pitched well for the 'Winds in her last outing going six innings, recording six strikeouts while allowing two earned runs, and will get another start in this weekend's tournament.
"(Pankratz) pitched a really good game and our hitters got on base but we were unable to get the clutch hits," Van Vlymen said. "The base running was a little shaky."
The 'Winds face Wisconsin on Saturday at 2 p.m., Edwardsville at 10 a.m. on both Saturday and Sunday and finish off the tournament against host SIU-Carbondale at 4 p.m.
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