TU Softball Gaining Confidence After Overcoming Rough Start

<p>TU softball is unbeaten in conference play entering this weekend. The Golden Hurricane squad is building confidence after not making a strong start.</p>

Thursday, March 30th 2017, 9:08 pm

By: News On 6


TU softball is unbeaten in conference play entering this weekend.

The Golden Hurricane squad is building confidence after not making a strong start.

"We had a short lineup at the beginning of the year, so if we weren't going to score at the top of the lineup, we probably weren't going to score," Coach John Bargfeldt said.

For the first 10 games, the team was 4-6; after that, 19-4 with a current nine-game winning streak.

They’ve also beaten some good competition; TU beat ranked California, LSU and Arkansas.

Outfielder Julia Hollingsworth said, "Everything's starting to click. We had a rough first part of the season, but we're more comfortable, we're not as anxious and we're just seeing the ball better, taking a lot of cuts."

The reason for recent success for the TU softball team is inside the circle - pitcher Emily Watson is having a great year, with a 1.27 ERA and setting a career high in strikeouts in a season already. The reason? A new pitch, the drop ball.

"Emily Watson has been just outstanding," Bargfeldt said. “She's really attacked hitters; she's gotten real aggressive…it's been quite a while since she's gone over 100 pitches. Now the Arkansas game she barely threw over 60 pitches.

"Just spinning the ball and making sure you're hitting locations, trusting defense," Watson said.

For her, pitching runs in the family; her cousin, Shawn Estes, was a major league pitcher, but she said she’s just improving every day, just like her team.

"We're a great program we just need to show it more. We had a little bit of a rough start, but I think we're getting the bats going," she said.

TU is back on the field looking for win number 10 in a row Friday against Memphis.

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