Considering a late-season skid, it came as a surprise Monday morning when Pittsburg State’s softball team learned it is the No. 2 seed in the Central Region tournament.
“Our players definitely were surprised,” coach Josh Barnes said. “(The selection committee) focuses on the whole season. We had one of the harder schedules in the region, had a lot of good wins. We didn’t really have any bad losses at all. Our only losses were in Quad 1 and one in Quad 2.
“They looked at the whole body of work – nine losses while playing really good teams. We did a whole lot during the regular season.”
The Gorillas (45-9) are the host for a four-team, double-elimination sub-regional tournament and play seventh-seeded Rogers State (36-19) in the opening game at 2 p.m. Thursday. The second game pairs third-seeded Central Oklahoma (42-13) and sixth-seeded Winona State (48-9).
“They’re pumped to be able to host regional,” Barnes said. “It’s the second time in program history to be able to do that (the first one in 2024). It’s not an easy feat, not something you can take for granted.”
It’s a chance for revenge for the Gorillas as the other three teams in the bracket handed PSU five of its nine losses. The Gorillas are 1-2 against Rogers State, 0-2 against UCO and 0-1 against Winona State.
The Gorillas are quite familiar with their first opponent. Rogers State beat the Gorillas 5-0 one week ago in the MIAA postseason tournament, scoring one run in the sixth inning and four in the seventh.
“Just re-emphasizing some stuff that we already know,” Barnes said. “We didn’t hit the ball very well (in the last game) and had too many strikeouts with runners on base.”
PSU leadoff batter Heather Arnett leads NCAA Division II with 107 hits and is hitting .537 for the season with 14 doubles, seven triples, 39 runs batted in, 38 stolen bases and 77 runs scored.
Left fielder Haili Igou (.313) hits second in the lineup, followed by third baseman Kadyn Trochim (.450), catcher Lexi Davis (.398), center fielder Sailor Hall (.355), designated player Bailey Haselhorst (.317), right fielder Kyleigh Lamont (.303), first baseman Trista Peterson (.295) and second baseman Rachael Schlotter (.313).
Davis has team-highs of 13 home runs, two more than Hall, and 75 runs batted in, two more than Trochim.
The starting pitcher will be Emma Crabb (15-4, 2.39 earned run average), Lexi Franklin (13-2, 3.43) or Ava Laurent (9-2, 2.78).
Laurent threw five scoreless innings against the Hillcats last week with three strikeouts and one walk while giving up two hits.
Rogers State will start Harley Culie (20-10, 2.26 ERA) in the circle. She blanked the Gorillas on six hits last week, fanned 10 and walked three in the first of her three complete games in the tournament.
