Freshman ignite strong start

Invigorated by young talent, the Bulldog softball team is off to an energetic start on their 2015 campaign. Although the Bulldogs (6-3) are only in the beginning stages of the 53-game marathon regular season, underclassman contributions have UMD trending in the right direction.

Freshman infielder Becky Smith has made an immediate impact in her first season at UMD. The Long Lake native has tallied more runs batted in (15) than hits (14). Leading the Bulldogs in both aforementioned categories, she has also set the pace in doubles (5) and total bases (25).

“She’s really stepped up as a freshman,” Head Coach Jen Banford said. “A lot of her RBIs are coming because our other two freshmen, Hannah Schmoll and Natalie Wright, are getting on base in front of her – it’s kind of a unique situation to have three freshman hitting one-two-three in your lineup and to have them producing the way they are.”

The freshman trio’s efforts at the plate have helped the Bulldogs outscore their opponents 45-28 over their first nine games, but Schmoll’s greatest impact could be on the base paths. The freshman has already stolen 10 bases this season — eight more than any player on last year’s team.

“She is so strong and so explosive,” Banford said. “Her speed is probably the fastest I’ve ever had as a coach.”

Banford hopes to mix her new talent with a proven core of upperclassmen to improve on last year’s No. 6 finish in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.

But if last week’s split against Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference rival Northern State is any indication, the Bulldogs have another competitive conference schedule ahead of them.

A 5-0 loss in the second game of their doubleheader against Northern State took the sweetness out of UMD’s opening shutout win by the same score, reviving memories of 2014, where a lack of consistency kept the Bulldogs on the wrong side of momentum.

UMD’s initial — and future — success in 2015 will start with pitching. With a 2.53 earned run average and four wins to her name thus far, sophomore pitcher Sam Hartmann is becoming an important piece of the puzzle. Her success gives Banford the ability to take some of the workload off junior Cayli Sadler, who threw 190.1 dominant innings last season and has over 300 innings of collegiate pitching experience.

Banford hopes her team can be more consistent this season, and for the first time in recent memory, UMD’s schedule could actually help them. The Bulldogs have 16 scheduled NSIC home games at Malosky stadium. She hopes her team can uses these games to develop a rhythm of consistency that eluded their grasp in 2014.

“We play so many games, it’s (inevitable) that people are going to get into slumps,” Banford said. “We have to find a way to be consistent, (and) I think the home games can do nothing but help us.”

BY JIMMY GILLIGAN

Statesman Correspondent

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