GLVC play kicks off for softball

Branden Peterson
Sports Reporter

The SIUE women's softball team opens up Great Lakes Valley Conference play against the University of Indianapolis Saturday.

So far the Lady Cougars are 9-7 in regular season play and will be going against an 8-4-1 University of Indianapolis team and a 9-7 Northern Kentucky team.

After the successful 8-2 record at the Rebel Spring Games in Orlando, Fla., the Lady Cougars return home to face more tough competition this weekend.

Head coach Sandy Montgomery knows what her team needs to win.

"When we hit, we win," Montgomery said. "The games we didn't hit in, we lost."

After 63 combined hits over spring break, the Lady Cougars are hoping for their bats to be hot again.

Montgomery will be looking to key hitters in theLady Cougar's conference opener this weekend - players such as outfielder Katie Waldo, who hit .419 over the break. Third baseman shortstop Mandy Uhrhan was also swinging a hot bat at .344.

Erin Newman, who became SIUE's all-time leader with 21 home runs , is hitting .306 so far this season.

The Lady Cougars will be facing the Indianapolis Greyhounds pitcher Renee Walsh.

Walsh has allowed only 10 hits this season and has struck out 10 batters in three games and 33 innings pitched.

The Northern Kentucky University Lady Norse have a strong stable of pitchers as well. Jamie Moore has struck out 40 batters so far this season, facing 144 batters and pitching in 50 innings.

Kim Bina has struck out 39 batters in 36 innings, and Katie Garling has struck out 12 in 25 innings of play.

Strong pitching was also evident on the Lady Cougars' side over the break after freshman RyAnn Spann pitched back-to-back no-hitters last week.

In doing so Spann became the fourth SIUE player in school history to pitch two no-hitters in a single season.

Spann along with the rest of the Lady Cougar pitching staff will be facing an Indianapolis team that at times has been able to produce big runs on the offensive side, scoring as much as 18 runs against Daniel Webster College.

Unlike the Greyhounds, the Norse have some powerful offensive weapons.

Kerry McKee has 11 runs and two home runs this season.

Joanna Doerner also has two home runs and has scored eight runs for the Norse this year.

GLVC play opens at 1 p.m. Saturday when the Lady Cougars are host for Indianapolis at Cougar Field for a doubleheader.

Northern Kentucky comes to town at 1 p.m. Sunday for a doubleheader. Baseball Offensive Leaders

Batting avgerage

name AVG.

1. Mark Bugger .500

2. Dave Crouthers .386

3. Josh Cate .333

4. Josh DeWitte .308

Hits

Name Hits

1. Mark Bugger 21

2. Dave Crouthers 17

3. Josh DeWitte 12

4. Todd Haug 10

4. Chad Opel 10