by Joe Geni
When Grinnell softball heads to Janesville, Wis. for the Midwest Crossover Tournament this year, they might as well replace the team’s Honor G logo with a bullseye.
That’s because the Pioneers beat all five teams in the Midwest Conference North Division at last season’s Crossover Tourney, and faces them all again this time.
“Last year we won all five games,” explained second baseman Lorraine Gaynor ‘04. “But the year before we lost all five games, so last year was a big surprise. So I think we’ll be a target this year.”
In the Crossover Tournament, each team in the South Division faces each team from the North Division. The Pioneers, a South Division team, will face Northern foes Lawrence, Ripon, St. Norbert, Beloit and Carroll in a two-day span on Saturday and Sunday. Grinnell needs conference wins of any kind after losing its first four of the season earlier in the month.
“The games are pretty important but not as important as the South Division games,” said centerfielder Karyn Wieland ‘06. “We still go into it looking to win all of them. Last year we won all of them and that kind of shocked a lot of people, so this year people will be coming after us.”
Grinnell’s opposition may be smelling blood after Grinnell extended its losing streak to eight after being swept by Simpson and William Penn at its own Hy-Vee Invitational this past weekend. The Pioneers lost 6-3 to William Penn and 7-0 to Simpson on Apr. 10, then 4-1 to Simpson and 3-1 to Penn the next day. Still, the numbers may be deceiving.
“They’re going to be good teams,” said Gaynor of this weekend’s opponents, “but I think that we’re ready. William Penn and Simpson are both really good programs, and maybe better than the teams we’re facing this weekend.
“I think we may have a bit of an advantage because the teams we’ve been playing the last couple weeks have been pretty tough,” said Wieland, “so coming into this weekend we have a lot of experience with good pitching and we should do pretty well.”
Grinnell hasn’t won a game in the month of April, but with only a pair of doubleheaders under their belts in conference play thus far, there’s still plenty left on the schedule. After this weekend’s action, the Pioneers host William Penn again on April 20 before travelling to play critical conference games at Monmouth and Illinois College next weekend. Grinnell currently stands at 5-12, 0-4 Midwest Conference.
The team also feels upbeat about its offensive situation, a concern heading into last weekend. Despite scoring just five runs in four games, the players feel that their hitting game is improving.
“I think we saw a lot of improvement also last weekend but there’s definitely room for more,” said Wieland. “We weren’t hitting as consistently as we all hoped, but we did have some clutch hits, and we’ve all been making better contact with the ball.” Weiland also described the pitching rotation the Pioneers ran into over the weekend as “probably some of the best we’ll see all season.”
“I think the hitting started to come around this past weekend,” Gaynor concurred, “and hopefully it will even more this weekend.”
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