Ending an eight-game losing streak was sweet. The way they did it was perhaps even better.
The Elon University Phoenix softball team took two out of three wins from Appalachian State University this weekend, improving its record to 19-14 overall, 8-7 in the Southern Conference. Elon will take on North Carolina State University April 18 in a single game in Raleigh and play a series against Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, N.C., April 21-22.
Phoenix head coach Kathy Bocock was more than pleased with the end of the streak.
“We got that monkey off our back a little bit,” she said. “We were sliding. We knew App State was a great team and they weren’t going to go away. We knew that, and we had to fight and it’s good for us to get ourselves in that situation because I don’t think we’ve been in very many of those, and us to get ready to go to tournament, that could happen a lot.”
The series win was keyed by senior pitcher Erin O’Shea, who made big contributions on the mound and at the plate. She pitched 14.1 innings, allowing just three earned runs and striking out 14. The highlight was the first game Saturday, in which she allowed just two hits and struck out five in a series-opening 8-0 win April 13.
“I’m just trying to do what I can for my team at this point,” O’Shea said. “Fortunately, I had two good games yesterday and had five good innings today. I’m just trying to give my team a chance to win.”
Bocock points to O’Shea as the key to the entire team.
“(Erin)’s very determined right now,” she said. “She wants to go out with a bang her senior year. She’s doing everything she can in her power to do that. I wouldn’t trade her for anything in the world. She’s just really working hard and she wants to win, she’s very determined.”
O’Shea was part of a turnaround on the offensive end for the Phoenix. After scattering 22 runs over the losing streak, which included 10-1 and 7-0 losses to James Madison University April 11 in Harrisonburg, Va., Elon knocked in 18 runs over the three weekend games.
“We know that Elon softball is putting runs on the board, and we don’t win if we don’t put runs on the board,” said junior infielder Ali Ford. “I think it was a good example the first game this weekend — if our bats do the work, it gives our defense confidence and we go out there and make plays and get the wins.”
Bocock saw a positive combination of the three key parts of a bat-and-ball sport as the jumping board behind the victories.
“We’ve been struggling a bit offensively, so hopefully that will put us back into where we need to be,” she said. “One of the things I told the girls (Saturday) was that, when you play this game, you’ve got to have offense, defense and pitching. And (Saturday), we had all three. (Sunday), I thought we did too.”
Ford pointed out the importance of doing the little things right, including winning Saturday.
“I thought we came out focused, especially snapping our losing streak and doing it in a big way in the first game,” she said. “Then just coming out and taking care of business the first day is extremely important.”
Bocock wants to give younger pitchers some experience against NC State and save O’Shea for the weekend series against Western Carolina University, a team that sits last in the Southern Conference.
“We definitely need to play up to our level of play and not Western’s, and it’s going to be really important for us to do that,” O’Shea said. “Western’s capable of beating anyone in the conference, so we have to come out and show some fire and passion, and everyone needs to be on the same page to come out on top.”
But possibly the most important part of breaking this losing streak is knocking the SoCon record above .500 and getting a jumpstart on the rest of the conference.
“Western Carolina may be down at the bottom, but they’re playing really well against people, and so we’ve gotta go ready to play and get those wins,” Bocock said. “Next weekend will be big again, and it will continue to be big all the way out.”