Tough Test for Softball

The road beckons, and with snow on the menu at home, CSU’s

women’s softball is more than happy to answer the call. The Rams

will finally start their conference season today and Sunday against

San Diego State and UNLV in San Diego and Las Vegas,

respectively.

Each game will be tough for CSU as the Aztecs won the 2003

Mountain West regular season title with a 12-3 record, and the

Rebels continue to improve.

The Rams were scheduled to start conference play last weekend in

New Mexico against the Lobos, but the games were cancelled because

of rain and poor field conditions.

Many of the Rams voiced their concern about now having to start

off conference with the defending regular season champions in San

Diego.

“They are a good team,” said sophomore Melanie Laffoon. “We will

have to play some of our best softball out there to come away with

victories.”

The Aztecs (23-18, 2-2) are led by senior third baseman Kelcy

Murphy, who leads the team with three home runs and 22 RBIs.

Another player who the Rams must look out for is sophomore

outfielder Meagan Hartung. She is leading the team in most

offensive categories, including batting average (.374), at bats

(123), runs (25), hits (46), doubles (7) and total bases (60).

The Aztecs have won the MWC regular season the past two years

and are always a tough team to face at home.

After a doubleheader with SDSU today, the Rams will travel to

Las Vegas to play UNLV in another doubleheader on Sunday.

The Rebels are 19-23 on the season, 2-2 in conference and are

led by senior outfielder Bridget Byrne, whose .452 average leads

the team along with her 135 at bats, 23 runs scored, 61 hits, seven

doubles and 70 total bases.

Junior pitcher Jacque Kerrigan, expected to start one of the two

games on Sunday, takes on most of the pitching workload for the

Rebels from the mound.

She is 16-14 on the season, with a 1.81 ERA and 179

strikeouts.

“We got our work cut out for us on this trip,” said head coach

Mary Yori. “If we win at least half of our games, it will put us in

a good position in the standings.”

As of now the standings are clogged with every team, aside from

CSU and New Mexico, tied at 2-2 in conference play.

For the Rams, junior Steph Roberts, last season’s co-MWC

offensive player of the year, has stepped up after a slow start.

She is batting .390, with six home runs and 20 RBIs. She is also

coming off a great two-game effort against the University of

Northern Colorado where she hit 3-for-5, with three runs and a RBI;

she also had a 1.000 on-base percentage combined for both

games.

CSU’s next appearance at Ram’s Field is April 15 against Brigham

Young in a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.