KWU Athletics
When Carmen Angulo (SR/Long Beach, Calif.) decides to do something, odds are she's going to succeed, be it in the classroom or in the circle on a softball field.
Angulo is Kansas Wesleyan's top pitcher and one of the best in the Kansas Conference this spring. Her numbers tell the tale.
She's 9-4 with a 3.60 earned run average in 89.1 innings (15 games) and has struck out 85 opposing hitters while allowing just 11 walks. Angulo was named the KCAC's Pitcher of the Week after posting a 3-0 record from March 21-27.
Her most recent effort – Saturday against York at Salina South High School – was one of the best. She allowed one run on five hits, struck out eight and walked none in seven innings in the Coyotes' 2-1 victory. She pitched the first two innings of the second game as well, allowing no runs on one hit with four more strikeouts and no walks while facing just seven batters.
Her out pitch is the curveball but also throws an effective rise ball.
Angulo's approach sounds simple enough but requires much to execute.
"Every time I practice or play, I come with purpose," she said. "I do everything with purpose.
"I play for my teammates. I'm here for them and they're here for me and that's what keeps me going."
It's no different when it comes to academics and her career goals. Angulo is a nursing major and like other KWU student-athletes who are in the program she has developed the requisite discipline and work ethic to do both.
"It definitely teaches you how to manage your time wisely," she said. "You don't think about it, just do it."
She carries the same mindset into the softball circle, a time when the world around her momentarily doesn't exist.
"I play my game," she said. "It's just me and the batter and the catcher."
Brian Guyett has become an Angulo fan since being named KWU's interim coach in early February.
"Mainly her focus," he said of his senior ace. "Obviously, mechanics and all that but the way she approaches the game, the goals that she sets for herself and her confidence in the circle. That bulldog attitude, that bulldog aggression that she's the best and no one's going to beat her.
"Anytime you put Carmen in the circle you have a really good chance to win."
Angulo didn't start playing softball until she was 10 and was 11 when she took up pitching.
"My dad just said 'you want to try it out' and I said 'sure' and we've just been rolling with it," she said.
Angulo played for two seasons at Eastern Arizona College before transferring to Wesleyan for the 2019-20 school year. She made 13 appearances in 2020 before COVID-19 ended the season in March. She was 13-16 with a 3.58 ERA, 128 strikeouts and 30 walks last spring.
Angulo says she's capable of pitching both games of a doubleheader but doesn't feel the need.
"I could but we have a pretty good pitching staff behind me and they're fully capable and good, too," she said.
As for her advice to the other young pitchers on the team?
"I tell them to have confidence, go out there and pitch your game," she said. "Pitch to your strengths."
Angulo will be back in the circle Wednesday when KWU plays conference foe Tabor in a doubleheader starting at 4 p.m. at Bill Burke Park.