Softball team eyes playoffs as season ends

The Point Park University softball team's most recent doubleheader resulted in a split. Only four American Mideast Conference (AMC) games remain for the Pioneers.

The remaining regular season games are home games. In order to secure a spot, the Pioneers must walk away from the next four games with at least three wins. The first doubleheader was set for Tuesday against Carlow University, but it was rescheduled for today at 11 a.m. due to rain. The second is scheduled for tomorrow at 3 p.m. against the conference-leading Notre Dame College, which is currently 13-1 in the conference.

The Pioneers directed their focus toward preparing for the final conference games.

"This week is going to be tough," said Michelle Coultas, head coach of the Pioneers. "We've got four games left, and we need three wins out of them. I'm not concerned with anything but winning those games and getting to the playoffs."

The Pioneers played against Cedarville University this past weekend at home in McKees Rocks. The team walked away from the doubleheader with only one victory instead of two.

Saturday's games provided the Pioneers with useful, enlightening information. Point Park beat Cedarville, 5-2, in the first game of the doubleheader. The victory was a game in which Point Park managed nine hits and five runs, playing solid defense to lend support to the sometimes inconsistent offense. Cedarville out-hit Point Park by one, but the defense supplied by the Pioneers was more than enough to counter.

It was the second game in which the Pioneers came up short, being shut out by Cedarville 7-0. The Pioneers did not get many runners on base to initiate scoring chances. While the offense faltered on Point Park's end, Cedarville took advantage of the situation and were able to keep the Pioneers completely shut-out after 50 percent of Cedarville's total hits resulted in runs.

The loss to Cedarville, which is 4-12 in the conference, kept Point Park from tying Walsh University. Walsh, which has a 9-9 conference record, is only beating Point Park for the fifth place spot by one win. The loss puts the Pioneers in a tight spot, but it also provided insight to the members of the team; even the new faces of this season can sense the intense situation they are in.

"We've done well looking back at the season," first baseman Julie Campbell, a freshman sport, arts and entertainment management major said, "We really should have won both games against Cedarville. It was an eye-opener. We do have the firepower and great leadership. Sometimes our hitting isn't as good as we'd like, which causes problems.

"It really comes down to getting our execution of the basics. We're talented enough; we just need to keep focus on the basics to get us through to the playoffs."

The Pioneers must achieve a state of well-rested preparedness and resist the disarming affects of fatigue, despite the length of the season.

"We have a lot of freshmen starting for our team," Coultas said. "We took the hard road as far as our schedule goes. It's longer than last year's and, for the freshman, it's even more so. I'm sure the girls are tired. Sometimes it's showing."

"When they're going day after day, I try to give them a rest. Notre Dame is 13-1 and it's going to be tough but I think we can do it."

Hitting consistently is the most urgent issue to be addressed by the Pioneers. The team has been unable to find a combination of hitters that can remain consistent. This leaves runs to be scored less predictably and is a main contributor to the occasional lack of offense.

The Pioneers cannot hope to obtain even one win against the top-ranked Notre Dame club if their offense is flip-flopping from winning to being shut-out in the same doubleheader.

The team has depth when talent is being measured, but the fact that the team consists of a lot of new players this year means that time is needed for the players to congeal as one solid force.

"We are still a young, developing team," Larissa Banks, a freshman outfielder for the Pioneers said. "We have [eight] freshmen playing this year. The seniors and juniors have helped a lot when it comes to guiding us in the right directions, but a lot of the team is still growing and developing."

Ideally, the Pioneers want to win both games against Carlow, which has a 3-11 AMC record. By doing so, the Pioneers would have a slight relief of pressure preparing for Friday's doubleheader against No. 1 Notre Dame.