Weather alters softball
schedule
By Matt Ryan
Staff Writer
The Purdue Boilermakers are not
the only ones who were affected by the weather this weekend. Southwest
Missouri State was scheduled to play Indiana State over the weekend,
but unforgiving weather made that impossible.
This also affects the Boilermakers' schedule. The
Boilers were scheduled to play the Bears in a doubleheader on Tuesday.
Because of the canceled games, they will play one game at 3 p.m. today.
Meagan Dooley, a junior pitcher for the Boilers,
hopes the weather does not play games with the team's schedule again.
"First and foremost, I hope that it's not cold
outside," said Dooley. "It's always a lot easier to play in the warm
weather."
The Boilermakers also hope to improve on some aspects
of their game before beginning Big Ten play this weekend.
Dooley says the Boilers need to play more consistently.
"We've been struggling with coming out against
every opponent and playing our best," she said.
Dooley also said the Boilers have more ability
than they show sometimes.
"We need to play up to our own ability instead
of worrying about the other team and how good they are," she said. "Whether
they are national champions or a team that's not so good, we want them
to respect our ability."
Coach Carol Bruggeman thinks Dooley, who threw
two no-hitters as a sophomore last season, will continue to be a valuable
asset to the team this year.
"Meagan is very competitive, even though her pitches
are not as sharp as they were a year ago. She still finds ways to get
batters out," said Bruggeman. "She wants to win, she wants to get better,
she certainly works very hard and as we head into conference play, we
are going to need her to pitch a lot of good innings."
Although Dooley, who is 6-2 with three saves this
season, is a very valuable player to the team Bruggeman is happy she
has more than one pitcher to rely on.
"The nice thing about our staff is that we don't
have just one pitcher that we have to rely on all the time," Dooley
said. "I think we are going to benefit from that come mid-April."
Bruggeman thinks that playing during the week is
sometimes the most important thing you do during the long season.
"I think that playing any game during the mid-week
helps keep you sharp," said Bruggeman. "The focus is to win, but also
to stay sharp for conference games on the weekends."
Dooley said this is a very important game for the
Boilermakers to win.
"This is a big game for us, because it sets the
tone for our Big Ten Season," she said. "How we do this week is going
to set our confidence level for this weekend."
When playing during the week the Boilers do not
always do things the conventional way.
"Unlike conference settings, we try and play all
three of our pitchers at some point and time," said Bruggeman. "We like
to make sure all three of them get at least one inning if not two of
work."
|
