Softball Sweep

Unearned runs in softball can be as lethal as anthrax or as helpful as antibiotics. The Pace Setters softball team was fortunate enough to benefit from their opponent’s mistakes and make it to .500.

Pace (24-14, 11-11) beat the Saint Michael’s Purple Knights (5-23, 3-17) by a score of 3-0 in the first game of a double header. The Setter’s 9-0 win in the nightcap brought the team’s conference record to .500.

The game’s first run came when outfielder Nicole Schultheis walked and scored on an error. The senior scored her 22^nd run this season.

“I mean it would have been nice if we got a chance to get driven in, but softball doesn’t always work out that way.” Schultheis said. “Some times you get lucky breaks, and this one seemed to work out in our favor.”

The Setters were able to add runs in a more conventional manner in the third inning. Freshman Jean Drury notched a double to increase her RBI total to 25; the second most runs batted in this season.

“I mean it’s nice to see stats that say I’m playing well, but it’s not that big a deal.” Drury said. “We win as a team, loose as a team and drive runs in as a team, stats are not as big as everyone likes them to be.”

Statistics may not mean much to Drury, but starter Caitlin McCann was happy to bolster her own. The freshman threw a complete game shutout to pick up her ninth win of the year.

“Stats can be a reflection of how the team is doing,” McCann said. “Bad stats are obviously not the end of the world, but it is nice to recognize when people are playing well.”

There were plenty of good statistics from the Setters in the nightcap. The Setters struck with six of their nine runs in the first inning.

Setters coach Claudia Stabile downplayed her team’s statistics, yet she admitted that getting to .500 in conference was a good thing.

“It is nice to see that our in conference play has improved,” Stabile said. “We are doing a lot more of the little things right now as opposed to the start of the year, hopefully this bodes well for us in the future.”

The Setters immediate future brings tidings of Franklin Pierce University. The two will square off on Tuesday at noon.