The softball team has started the season with a strong 9–5 record; from this point the future looks bright.
Their early success has come from the strong presence of senior first baseman Julie Kernen. This past week she was named the American Softball Player of the Week for the second straight time. She had an average of .429 along with 6 RBI.
Unfortunately, the Hurricane dropped out of the top 25 during the last tournament. They had been ranked number 25 in the country previously, but after losing two games (one to Baylor and one to Oregon) they fell from their former spot. The team is optimistic that this will just be a speed bump in their season as a whole and looks forward to gaining a dominant position in the country once again.
Last season was very historic for the softball program. Their final record was 53–9, which will be hard to duplicate. They also finished the season ranked 18th in the country. It must have left a sour taste to lose to Baylor again in this past tournament considering that that is who knocked them out of the postseason last year.
The most recent tournament which was scheduled to be here in Tulsa was cancelled this past week due to the winter weather. They would have played Northern Iowa, Creighton, Nebraska and North Texas.
I’m sure the team will use this off time to hone their skills and prepare for their next games which will take place in New Mexico for their round-robin style tournament. The team won’t play Baylor again during the regular season, but hopefully they will be able to seek revenge in a game during the postseason.
