By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
The Southeast of Saline softball team will look to finish out the 2022 season strong after a solid start to the new campaign.
The Lady Trojans began their season on fire at 8-0 but faltered a bit against their last three opponents to enter the home stretch of the season at 9-5.
SES has relied on a solid lineup of steady hitters, with the top seven in the order all batting north of .300 on the year.
That consistency has allowed Southeast to strike from anywhere at any time, with four different Lady Trojans reaching double-digit RBI already.
“The balance of this lineup has been wonderful and we like to keep it pretty much the same day in and day out to allow them to be comfortable with where they’re at,” SES head coach Pesha Ptacek said. “We have the ability to consistently hit one through nine and that allows us even more flexibility all around.”
While the Trojan hitting has been good this year, the pitching has been downright unhittable at times, with the trio of Bryna Baird, Lexi Jacobson, and Carly Commerford combining for a team ERA of 2.4.
“We have three very different pitchers who are all incredibly talented in their own right,” Ptacek said. “It’s a huge luxury as a coach to use that to our advantage and they all play the field we have a lot of flexibility with our defensive substitutions there as well.”
That team ERA doesn’t begin to truly explain how dominant the Lady Trojan pitching has been this season. Between the three starters, SES has tossed 104 strikeouts while allowing just 95 hits, and issuing just 31 walks all year.
The Lady Trojans have allowed more than five runs in just three of their 14 games so far, and with a stout offensive output have won three games by mercy rule already.
“It feels like this lineup always has somebody in it who’s been hot,” she said. “I’m looking forward to the day when all of the pieces fall into place at the same time but we always have a few girls that pick it up if someone is down.”
With just six games to go in the regular season, all against league opponents, Southeast will use these final weeks to tighten up the little things ahead of a playoff push this May.
“We still have some things to clean up and we’re still getting to grips with some of the finer details with our pitchers,” Ptacek said. “We’re also looking for even more good disciplined at-bats and we’ve talked a lot about how good plate appearances are more important than your average.”
SES will be back in action on April 26th for a home doubleheader against Minneapolis.
For continuing coverage of Lady Trojan softball all spring long stay tuned to the Salina Post.