After a less than stellar 2010 season, the Eastern Michigan University softball team is looking forward to turning things around in 2011 and have its sights set on the Mid-American Conference Championship in May.
The Eagles finished last season with a record of 19-30-1 and 8-13-1 in MAC play. Coach Karen Baird strongly believes that this season is going to be a turnaround from last year and has high expectations.
“We want lots of wins,” Baird said. “We have a very good core group of girls from last year. We have high expectations for ourselves. Not only do we want to make the MAC tourney this year, but we want to end up winning it.”
The Eagles ended their season last year on a sour note. They swept the final two games of the season against Northern Illinois to put them into contention to make the final spot in the MAC Tournament. Their playoff hopes evaporated when Buffalo and Bowling Green defeated EMU in its last games, knocking the team out of contention.
The Eagles finished fifth in the MAC West, the same position the preseason polls have the team finishing this season. But Baird doesn’t give much credit to what the coaches’ preseason polls predict for her team.
“Not a lot of stock goes into these polls,” Baird said. “It’s what happens at the end of the season; the coaches know that.”
The season is just a week a way for the Eagles, who will be traveling to Fort Myers, Fla., to take part in the “Moe’s Blue and Green” invite. The invite is scheduled to start on Feb. 25 and continue until March 2 where they will face the University of Maryland, Baltimore County; Albany, Iowa, St. Francis and Florida Gulf Coast.
“We are excited about our schedule this year,” Baird said. “We are looking forward going south and are looking to play as a team, and we are hoping that this helps us in preparing for the MAC season.”
Baird says she has goals in mind for her team other than athletics.
In the past six seasons, Baird has pushed her team to look at the academic side of college and stressed earning a degree to better her players.
“What we talk about on recruiting trips is that you can’t play softball and make it a career, money-wise,” Baird said. “You have to get a job. Our ultimate goal is for every girl to graduate.”
Baird has pushed her players hard enough to see they have the fourteenth best GPA in the league. The average team GPA is 3.430, according to National Fastpitch Coaches Association. There were also nine athletes from last year’s team that was named scholar athletes by the NFCA, one of which was sophomore Sarah Gerber.
Gerber, a junior, was named team captain along with seniors Stacie Skodinski, infielder, who batted .307 last season; and pitcher Jamie Melchert, who had a team-high 87 strikeouts.
“Gerber has come a long way from her freshman year,” Baird said. “You can see it from her leadership behind the plate and in her hitting as well. We expect her to come back this season and continue to improve her game.”
Last season Gerber was named first team all-MAC and was voted defensive player of the year by her peers. She had a .301 batting average and ended the year with an 11-game hitting streak. On defense, Gerber recorded a .977 fielding percentage, allowed two passed balls and threw out 25 stolen base attempts.
“I try and lead by example,” Gerber said. “We need a team effort this year, both offensively and defensively.”
Gerber says that everyone’s role on this team is equally important, from the senior to the freshman.
MACThe Eagles first home game is a double header on Apr. 8th at 1 p.m. against Bowling Green at Varsity Field.
