Kara Dornbos, junior trio leading softball pitching staff
As the softball pitching staff warms up, all you can hear is mitts smacking, softballs whistling through the air and compliments from teammates.
And, why not, it leads the Mid-American Conference in ERA.
Senior Kara Dornbos leads an already experienced pitching staff with a trio of juniors to back her up in the pitcher's circle. This well-seasoned staff has a combined 2.52 ERA and an opponent’s batting average of .242. Both are lowest in the MAC.
“We’ve been doing a really good job of locating and mixing pitches up. All of our pitchers have different pitches, which adds a good variety,” said head coach Margo Jonker.
The lone senior, Dornbos, despite her 3-5 record, doesn’t accurately depict her performance on the year. She has a 2.11 ERA on a team-high of 59.2 innings pitched. With her 10 starts on the year, she has already piled up seven complete games while allowing only 16 earned runs.
Dornbos also continues to flourish in the CMU record books. On the year, she has already cracked the top 10 in appearances, innings pitched, shut outs, complete games and strikeouts.
“I’m really excited for my senior year," Dornbos said. "We have a great team with good hitting and a lot of talent. I’m looking forward to starting conference play and playing at home."
Junior Chelsea Sundberg on the year has been the strikeout queen, leading the Chippewas with 43 strikeouts, which ranks her eighth in the conference. She is the second most-used pitcher by Jonker with 41.2 innings pitched and has only allowed 19 earned runs on the year.
Continuing down the line of juniors, Morgan Yuncker leads the team an unblemished record of 3-0 and a 1.56 ERA, which ranks her fifth in the MAC. Earlier in the season, while competing in University of South Florida Under Armor Invitational, Yuncker earned herself MAC West Pitcher of the Week honors. She has only allowed six earned runs on 27 innings pitched this year.
“Our motto this year has been pitching staff; it’s not just one person," Dornbos said. "We can’t just rely on our experience alone; we need to push each other."
Junior Kristen Kuhlman, who has also been named MAC West Pitcher of the Week, rounds up the pitching staff for the Chippewas. She has pitched 18.1 innings for CMU with a 2.29 ERA and a record of 3-2. Kuhlman is mainly used as the team's reliever when she is not making plays in the outfield for the team.
"I never want to see one of our starting pitchers come out of the game," Kuhlman said. "But I need to be ready to go at any time. As a reliever, I need to be on call and on my game. I need to be ready to be put in any situation of the game."
With every good pitching staff there is a good catcher behind the plate, and junior Cory DeLamielleure has been a solid game manager.
“Cory is a great catcher and has been managing the game," Jonker said. "She has been doing a good job of helping pitchers call the game."
Dornbos, unlike Sundberg, is not a strikeout pitcher; she relies heavily on her defense, and that makes DeLamielleure a bit more important than just catching pitches and tossing them back.
"Being a pitcher that gets a lot of ground balls, I need a good defense and catcher to call the game," Dornbos said. "Cory has been doing a great job of calling the games I pitch."
Despite the pitching staff leading the conference in ERA and opponents’ batting average, the numbers are not what impress Jonker the most about this group.
“It’s their work ethic. To be successful at this level, you can’t just practice when we're scheduled to practice," Jonker said. "You have to go above and beyond, which is what they have done. But, also, credit is due to their teammates who have to catch them"
