Weber State University’s softball team traveled to Fort Collins, Colo., and played in the Colorado State Spring Tournament. The Wildcats came out on top coming out of the weekend with a 3-2 record, bringing their overall record to 7-11.
“The games that we won, we had everything, we had the pitching and our defensive and bats showed up,” said Symbree Miniear, team captain. “It felt really good to come out on top for once.”
“We saw our team rise to a new potential this weekend,” said Lyndsey Minnich, the other team captain. “We are showing that we are playing with heart. Everyone is stepping up every game and showing the desire to win.”
WSU beat University of Northern Iowa 12-10 and lost to St. Mary’s College 2-11. Friday, the team faced less than ideal weather conditions, but the bad weather was no excuse, said Minnich.
“I know that it is not a good excuse, but the weather was so cold the second day,” Minnich said. “Bad weather or not, we didn’t make necessary adjustments, and we didn’t discuss the adjustments with our teammates.”
Against UNI, WSU and UNI bounced back and forth in the score, but WSU came out on top when it scored 10 runs in the final three innings of the game.
The Wildcats put up an impressive season high, tying 15 hits. Senior Kami Holley went 3-3 at the plate, had four RBIs and a three-run scoring homerun. Freshman Janel Cunningham also went 3-3 at the plate.
Senior pitcher Sarah Clark picked up the win, improving her record to 4-4. She also struck out four in her six innings of work.
In the game against the Gaels, the Wildcats only had three hits to the Gaels’ nine.
The second day of the tournament proved to be fruitful for WSU. It went back to work against both UNI and the Gaels. WSU came out with a rematch run-ruled victory of 8-0 against the Gaels. Clark earned the victory, advancing her record to 5-4. Minnich put up two RBIs that upped her total this season to 28, which is a new single-season record for the Wildcats, dating back to the program’s original inaugural season in 1975.
WSU then followed up a run rule victory with a 0-8 run rule loss to UNI. The Panthers led 1-0 through the first three innings before scoring seven runs in the last three innings to end the game.
“We had one game where we got shut out against Northern Iowa,” Miniear said. “We just weren’t seeing the ball and making the adjustments we needed to make.”
On the final day of the tournament, WSU beat Colorado State University 6-5. The tied score finally broke in the final inning of the game as Cunningham hit a right field RBI single to win the game.
Miniear said that despite the success, the team will still be working on some things.
“Our defense has been struggling with communicating between infielders and outfielders,” Miniear said. “I feel like that is one thing we need to work on this week.”
The Wildcat’s will be at home Tuesday against in-state foe Dixie State College.
“We know Dixie is going to come out and hit the ball,” Miniear said. “We have to be ready for that on defense. Our bats need to come out so that we can compete. We know that whoever is going to hit the ball more is going to win the game.”
Minnich said the team is going to show Dixie something new and put up a fight.
“We are planning on showing Dixie how good of a team we are,” Minnich said. “We aren’t the same team we were last year. I think we are going to surprise them, and we are excited to be back at home.”
