THOMPSON: Pitching, offense clicking early in season for CMU softball team
Pitching wins championships.
Central Michigan softball has shown in its non-conference schedule it has championship pitching.
Senior Kari Seddon (4-4) leads the starting staff, along with sophomore Kara Dornbos (4-3) and freshman Chelsea Sundberg (4-1). All three have already been awarded Mid-American Conference Pitchers of the Week in the West Division.
The saying "good pitching beats good hitting" is something CMU hopes holds true. The pitching staff, mixed with a solid offense, has head coach Margo Jonker looking to add to her 11 Mid-American Conference championships and nine MAC tournament championships.
CMU (13-9) leads the conference in most pitching categories, most notably a league-best 1.82 earned run average, the second-best conference ERA is 2.27 from Eastern Michigan. The Chippewas also have the lowest opponent batting average in the conference at 1.92.
And it’s not like the Chippewas haven’t faced a tough non-conference slate. CMU has already faced South Florida (19-15), Florida A&M (9-10), Indiana (16-12) and Michigan State (18-10).
Seddon, Dornbos and Sundberg have dominated that competition, too. CMU pitchers have shut out their opponents in seven games this season, and CMU pitchers have taken no-hitters or perfect games into the last inning in several of those.
And it’s not just pitching that has the Chippewas looking eager to make a run at the conference crown and, possibly, a long postseason run. The offense has found ways to score runs and win games.
Jonker has played 'small ball,' finding ways to get the Chippewas scoring. CMU has 20 sacrifice bunts and five sac-flies, which leads the MAC. In addition, 31 stolen bases have helped put runners in scoring position.
But by no means does this mean CMU doesn’t have power. Junior Molly Coldren has the most home runs in the conference with five and leads the league in slugging percentage. Seddon, Coldren and senior Amanda Patrick all have averages above .333 for the middle of the Chippewa lineup.
If the pitching staff keeps throwing at this stellar rate, once the Chippewas hit the MAC slate and begin playing in Mount Pleasant, they have the pieces to make a title run. A run that Jonker, or CMU, hasn’t had since 2004.
