Pittsburg State softball putting up big numbers in 11-game win streak

The Pitt State Gorillas are scorching hot on a big win streak.

Key Takeaways:

• The Gorillas have won 11 games in a row.
• The offense has been playing well.
• The pitching has been equally impressive.

The Pittsburg State Gorillas softball team has been running up the scoreboard so far in the 2023 season. 

In the first 20 games of this season, the Gorillas have put up a lot of runs, scoring seven or more in eight games and 113 runs overall to their opponents’ 54 runs scored against them. Pitt State hasn’t been just barely winning—not in a season where they’ve had an 11-game win streak. 

Assistant head coach Brad Fuller manages the offense and said he’s happy with how his group has been preparing for the games. He credits his batters’ preparation for the success they’ve had so far. 

“What’s been huge for us and our offense has been our preparation,” Fuller said. “We spend a lot of time scouting the opponents and the pitchers we are going to face, and we give the players a pretty significant game plan going into each series or each game so they have an understanding of what they are going to see when they get in there. From an offensive standpoint, a confident hitter is a dangerous hitter.” 

Another reason the Gorillas have been hitting well, according to both coach Fuller and redshirt junior Shortstop Gabby Schultz, is the offense’s aggression at the plate by swinging early in the count before pitchers can get ahead of them. 

“From a power standpoint, we are probably a team that hits for power,” Fuller said. “I think we have 23 home runs in 20 games.”

Schultz had a strong weekend during the MIAA/GLVC Crossover Tournament on March 4 and 5, going seven for thirteen with two home runs and a triple. She credited her success to going back to fundamentals and the aggressive approach at the plate. 

“This go around, I just tried to go back to what I know and just attack earlier in the count, so seeing the first pitch and swinging and seeing down the middle,” Schultz said.

Another Gorilla that has been having a strong several weeks is junior first baseman Paxtyn Hayes. She was named the NCAA Division 2 player of the week for her performances against Wayne State and Drury University in the Pitt Triangular Tournament on Feb. 18 and 19, when she hit a .692 batting average and hitting for a home run cycle over those four games. 

She was excited to be nationally recognized as the Division 2 player of the week.

“It was awesome,” Hayes said. “I got a lot of support from my family and from my teammates and I couldn’t have done it without them, and it feels good to receive that national recognition,” 

The next week was going to be hard to follow up in the Washburn Invitational, but Hayes still went 5-11 with two home runs and two doubles. 

The work put in by both the pitching staff and offensive players has led to an overall 14-6 win-loss record. Hayes said the morale around the clubhouse has been through the roof during the win streak and has been a fun environment to be around. 

“It is electric when we have practice,” Hayes said. “When we have competitions in practice we are always jumping around and playing loud music and before games on the bus, we try to keep that energy up as much as we can.” 

The win streak is important for their overall record, but equally important to Coach Fuller is the momentum that is building. 

“We are on an 11-game win streak,” Fuller said. “Our players should be confident going into those games. We just had UCM in town last weekend. We didn’t play them, but we got to see them play.”

The Gorilla’s momentum will be tested as they begin playing their conference schedule against the University of Central Missouri Jennies and the Lincoln Blue Tigers on March 12 and 13.

“I think we have a pretty good idea of what we will see in terms of competition,” Fuller said. “I mean UCM is 12-5, so they will be a tough opponent, but I think we will be in a good spot to give ourselves a good chance to win.”