Sometimes expectations can be a bit unrealistic. For instance, when I was in grade school, I was the best basketball player in my grade at Jefferson Elementary School. Naturally, I expected to graduate high school and promptly enter the NBA draft. It turns out that even playing college basketball wasn’t an achievable goal. In that case, my expectations were much too high, but I set the expectations for myself, so I got over it fairly easily.
On the other hand, the three-time defending MVC champion Creighton softball team was expected to win the Valley regular season title again. Except just about everyone expected the preseason favorite Jays to win it for a fourth year in a row. In my short life, I’ve learned that living up to other people’s expectations can be the toughest to do. Coach Brent Vigness’ squad learned this the hard way as they dropped seven straight games (five in MVC play), something that is unheard of for his program. It included the Jays’ first home sweep since 2003 (which is when my NBA dreams began to slip away, in case you were wondering).
Luckily, it turns out that Webster’s dictionary now displays a photo of the 2009-2010 Creighton Softball team next to the word “adversity”. This is due to their recent turnaround. After experiencing the worst rough patch in recent Creighton softball history, they are currently enjoying a six game MVC winning streak, having won seven of their last eight games overall.
“This team has been able to keep it together very well too. In our program’s history, losing five conference games in a row is something that has not been done while any of these players have been here. They’ve had to be very strong through this stretch. Their ability to fight through adversity and have mental toughness is unbelievable.” –Coach Vigness
This past weekend, I was able to avoid the library and procrastinate in the comfort of the press box. UNI came to town (just two days after the Kansas Jayhawks did…coincidence?) and was handled easily by scores of 8-2, 4-3, and 8-0.
Back-to-back home runs by Renae Sinkler and Amy Baker gave the Jays a 3-0 in the first inning. That is all they would need but they decided to tack on five more just for fun. Tara Oltman showed some of her vintage stuff throwing a complete game. Sinkler’s first inning homer tied her for the single season home run record at 16. She is already the career home run record holder.
Kylie Hovinga tossed four scoreless innings giving up just one hit before Oltman returned to the mound in the second game of the doubleheader. Oltman entered the seventh inning with a 4-2 lead. She gave up double to right field, which brought the Panthers to within a run, but ended the game on a strikeout leaving runners on the corners.
Oltman was back on the mound Sunday and was dominating. She pitched a two-hit shutout and looked as preseason All-American worthy as ever. In doing so, she tied the MVC record for career appearances. Meanwhile, Sinkler tied the Creighton single season RBI record with her 43rd. Baker stayed hot and went 2-for-3 on the day (5-for-7 on the weekend), helping her earn MVC Player of the Week honors for the second week in a row.
