Published: October 08, 2008 11:05 am            

OSU returns all defensive starters and it shows

Oklahoma State’s softball season won’t officially kick off until February.

That doesn’t mean there isn’t work to be done in October.

The Cowgirls took on Seminole State College on Tuesday night in a doubleheader and came away with two victories, the first by the score of 11-0 and the second was a narrow 2-0 victory.

Both were defined by an incredible defensive effort.

“We’ve only made three errors so far and none of them have been fielding errors,” head coach Rich Wieligman said. “We’ve made good plays and we’ve made smart sound decisions on defense.”

The defensive play gives a sense of deja vu across the diamond, because OSU returns every defensive starter from last year’s team.

Eight starters, one at every position, will return to a team that had a 96.7 fielding percentage last season. Five of those players had a fielding percentage higher than 98 percent.

“You can definitely see the difference between this year and last year with everyone knowing the system,” third baseman Heather Kim said. “Even the new kids are picking it up quickly because the rest of us know what we are doing.”

It’s always nice to pick up victories against any opponent, but unfortunately for Wieligman, these games won’t count as far as standings are considered but the importance of the contests isn’t measured by the final outcome.

“In the fall, we are just trying to get our freshmen acclimated to college ball,” Wieligman said. “Find out where our team is chemistry-wise. When you are always losing and adding people your team chemistry changes, the culture of your team changes.”

There are five new Cowgirls joining the team and three saw significant time in Tuesday’s doubleheader. Center fielder Kelsey Anchors went 2-for-6 with a run scored and shortstop Chelsea 2-for-4 with three runs scored, but both possess an ability that in invaluable.

“Softball is definitely a fast game,” Kim said. “Mariah, Bre, Kelsey and Kristin all have tons of speed. What they can do is just open up their options ... It’s definitely a good thing to be fast.”

Not everyone is returning for another year in the orange-clad O-State uniform. Gone from this year’s team is the bat of first baseman Kim Kaye. The leader in home runs, RBIs, total bases and slugging percentage has left a huge hole in the left-handed batters box.

She was not only the team’s best power hitter, but as the No. 4 batter, was also the leader on the field.

“People have to learn to step up and you have to try and find out who is going to be the leader on the team and doing things the four hole used to do,” Wieligman said.

Kim, Sam Heinlein — who has three home runs this fall — and freshman Julie Ward all have the potential to fill the void left by Kaye.

“We have a lot of power on the team,” Kim said. “There’s definitely some people that can fill that role.”

As far as the actual on-field output, the Cowgirls have run off six victories this fall, but face their first real test this Saturday against Arkansas. It’s nice to win in the fall, but what it comes down to for OSU is improving on a conference record that increased from 3-15 to 9-9 last season.

“When you bring back that many s expect to win and expect to compete on that level,” Kim said. “We’re expecting it to. We’ve got a bunch of kids in that want it and expect it.”

        

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