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.
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