Pitching prowess: Kari Seddon, Kara Dornbos lead strong CMU softball pitching staff
Kari Seddon and Kara Dornbos have anchored a Central Michigan softball pitching staff that tossed 10 shutouts as a part of an impressive non-conference showing.
When CMU began conference play April 1, the staff had a league-best 1.29 earned run average. That’s almost a whole run per game less than Miami’s second-best ERA.
“As a pitching staff we’ve spent a lot of time talking about this year and talking about what we want to do as a staff,” said Seddon, a senior.
The staff’s shutouts and stellar ERA got CMU off to a 15-9 non-conference record. Beyond the 10 shutouts, the pitching held another nine teams to under three runs. Five of the Chippewas' losses have came when the staff limits opponents to less than three runs.
“I think we have a very solid pitching staff this year,” said CMU head coach Margo Jonker. “We have a number of pitchers we can go with. If someone’s struggling someone else can pick it up.”
Seddon (5-5), sophomore Dornbos (6-4) and freshman pitcher Chelsea Sundberg (4-2) have thrown nearly every inning this year. The group isn’t taking credit for their success, though.
“It’s definitely because of the defense we’ve had behind us,” Dornbos said.
Dornbos has posted a Mid-American Conference-best 1.16 ERA. In her worst outing of the season, her first start, she only allowed three earned runs. Since then she hasn’t allowed more than one run in every appearance but one, when she gave up two runs in a loss at Northern Illinois.
Sundberg made her impression early. In her first collegiate appearance, she pitched a three-hit complete game shutout against Jacksonville State. All three pitchers have earned MAC Pitcher of the Week honors.
Seddon, Dornbos and Sundberg are sharing their success with the rest of the team.
“Catchers have really been working on framing pitches,” Seddon said. “They get those strikes that are iffy.”
Sundberg pointed out the fact that the catchers, senior Amanda Klosterman and freshman Cory DeLamielleure, have done a great job of “blocking” pitches so far this year. She isn’t the only person to notice it.
“They do a great job getting balls in the dirt so pitchers have a great deal of confidence to let it go,” Jonker said. “Our pitching staff is very committed and our catchers do a nice job behind the plate. The two have to work well together to be successful.”
The catchers have to block a wide variety of pitches. Between the staff of three they throw a fastball, curve, screwball, drop, rise and changeup to keep hitters off balance.
“They work just as hard as us behind the plate and that’s great,” Dornbos said.
The pitching staff talked before the year and have three goals as a group. The first is to stay ahead of hitters by throwing lots of strikes early in counts. Secondly, field their position, and lastly, they want to have a good ERA of 1.35 or below.
Seddon did her part achieving those goals in the home opener on Wednesday against Detroit. She threw first pitch strikes to 13 of the 18 batters she faced, as she only allowed one hit and lowered the staff’s ERA by shutting out Detroit.
Besides Dornbos, the Chippewas staff had a rough first weekend of MAC play, were they watched their ERA jump to 2.19, still good for first in the conference ahead of Miami (2.34).
“As a pitching staff we’ve spent a lot of time talking about this year and about what we want to do as a staff,” Seddon said. “We’ve bonded as a ground and we support each other.”
So far, Jonker has liked what she’s seen.
“It’s definitely one of the pitching staffs we’ve had in a long time,” Jonker said.
