Everything the Elon University softball coaching staff wanted from its offense this season can be summed up in one indelible acronym.
“We call them S.W.A.G. cuts,” freshman second baseman Cyra Cottrell said. “Swing with a goal. You pick something that you need to work on personally for the week, and you attack it.”
The Phoenix attacked opposing pitching staffs all weekend long, scoring 35 runs over four games in its sweep of the Elon Invitational Feb. 10-12.
Elon opened the season with a come-from-behind 4-1 victory over Liberty University. The Flames, an NCAA Tournament participant in 2011, had a one-run lead entering the fifth inning. But a four-run frame highlighted by a pair of two-RBI hits from sophomore center fielder Carleigh Nester and junior left fielder Tomeka Watson propelled the Phoenix in front for good.
There would be no more close games over the weekend. Elon outscored its opponents 31-6 over the next three games and trailed for just one inning over that span.
“Our offense just really stepped it up in clutch situations,” senior pitcher Erin O’Shea said. “We got runners on base and moved them in scoring positions and moved them across the plate.”
The Phoenix didn’t only rely on station-to-station baseball to score this weekend. Senior shortstop Danielle Lafferty’s three-run homer in the first inning of Saturday’s game against North Carolina Central gave Elon a 5-3 lead. On Sunday against the same North Carolina Central team, Cottrell hit a pair of changeups out of the park on back-to-back at-bats for her first two home runs of her college career.
“I have a lot expected of me,” Cottrell said. “But any time you can go up there and just have fun and just swing hard at the ball and it goes out, that’s a plus.”
After dropping a weight on her foot shortly after New Year’s Day, Nester feared she would have to miss part of the season recuperating. But after recording team highs with eight hits and eight RBIs this weekend, Nester said she’s fully healthy and ready to conquer the rest of the schedule.
Elon hosts the Phoenix Softball Clash Feb. 17-19, playing five games during the three-day tournament against Presbyterian College, James Madison University and Bucknell University. The early season matchups against teams unfamiliar to the Phoenix present a challenging task for interim head coach Kathy Bocock.
“We go and call the teams that played (our opponents) at the end of last year and we get scouts on them,” Bocock said. “But now, their new freshmen we can’t pick up.”
For now, non-conference opponents may present the Phoenix with a sense of unfamiliarity. But if Elon is able to swing with a high enough goal, maybe it won’t matter.