By JACOB COMP, Student Reporter
Northwestern’s softball team is in full swing after playing its first games in late Feb.
Head coach Jill DeVries goes into her fifth season coaching the Lady Ranger softball team.
The NWOSU softball team began its season with a win and loss against Friends University. The team’s second series of the year was against Sterling College. The Lady Rangers left Sterling, Kansas with a sweep over the Knights of Sterling College.
The Lady Rangers then hosted the team’s first home series against the University of Arkansas at Monticello. The team won two games out of three against the Cotton Blossoms.
The team then traveled to Wichita, Kansas to play Newman University. The Lady Rangers swept Newman University by scoring nine runs in both wins.
After playing those teams, they started the season with a record of 7 – 2.
Since their sweep in a double header against Newman University, the Lady Rangers have not put another “W” in the win column and are currently on an 11-game losing streak.
Morgan La Neve, a junior third baseman for the Lady Rangers, said the team needs to bring back the attitude they had in the beginning of the season.
Sophomore pitcher Hannah Howell leads the team with a batting average of .431 on 58 at bats. She has 10 RBIs, 25 hits and seven doubles.
Howell was named to the Great American Conference Pitcher of the Week accolade on March 2. Howell’s record on the year is 5-5 as the starting pitcher on the mound. She currently has a 3.02 ERA for the season.
“Being named GAC pitcher of the week at the beginning of the year was an awesome accomplishment,” Howell said. “I felt like all my hard work was paying off.”
Lindsey McElroy, Allison Zanca, Kalie Johnson, Jayden Solberg and Regan Burleson join Howell and La Neve on having a .250 batting average with at least 15 at-bats.
“I believe we are going to come out swinging the next series and pull out a couple of W’s to give us our mojo back and hopefully we can gain that confidence back as well,” Howell said.
The softball team has 19 conference games left in the season before the Great American Conference tournament in Bentonville, Arkansas beginning May 6.
