Bobcat Softball Hungry For More Wins
By: Thomas Garverick
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Danielle Steine is good- really good.
That’s why she was named the Mid-American Conference East Player of the Week for the fourth-straight week Tuesday afternoon.
For the past month, Steine has been the best among all qualifying MAC pitchers.
But, that comes with a price — a pretty hefty one too.
She’s under the microscope with every pitch she throws, and in her start Wednesday night against the Marshall Thundering Herd, OHIO Coach Jodi Hermanek wanted more.
Amazing – especially after Steine pitched four innings, gave up only one run and struck out four Thundering Herd batters on the evening.
But Hermanek expected more, and that’s why early in the first inning, the two had a chat on the mound.
“I was just telling her to get her job done – point blank period; that’s what it was,” she said. “She didn’t come out with her best stuff today, so I wanted to make sure we had a conversation that we need to get out here and compete.”
After giving up a lead-off walk that led to the Herd’s first run of the game, Steine settled in and made the necessary adjustments.
“Yeah, why? Because she’s good; but she didn’t start off good, but she quickly fixed it,” Hermanek said. “She’s good in the middle of the mound and the moment, and makes big adjustments because she has a lot of experience to do that.”
Steine improved to 19-5 on the season and kept her ERA under two at 1.91 on the season.
A Win, But Not Satisfied
You know you’re picking nits when you aren’t satisfied with a 10-run offensive performance in a victory.
Her team has won 10 of its past 11 games, but Hermanek said it wasn’t a performance to remember for her 29 and 14 ball club.
“I don’t think it was our best team day as far as mentality and intentions,” she said. “We didn’t have our grind. We need to get better at that. I feel like we could have played up a notch.”
Hermanek said she feels justified saying that because it was an unorthodox 10 runs that her team scored. The team opened the gates sooner than the Thundering Herd had hoped — exploding for five runs in just the first inning.
Then, after being shutout in innings 2-4, OHIO scored five more runs in the final five innings to run-rule the Herd.
Hermanek said back-to-back extra-inning games during a doubleheader with the Miami RedHawks over the weekend may have contributed to the uneven offense.
“That’s spot on – probably from playing 14 innings on Saturday and being the week before finals and a lot going on,” she said.
Hermanek said she will have her team ready to go in time for a two-game set against the Buffalo Bulls on Friday.
“You have to come to the office and get the job done and you have to do it with conviction,” she said.