SIU softball heads into the great unknown
Last season's SIU softball team featured a plethora of talented seniors in Missouri Valley Conference Pitcher of the Year Erin Stremsterfer, Marta Viefhaus, Julie Meier, Netty Hallahan, Amanda 'Rat' Rexroat and Chiara Calvetti.
That group guided the Salukis to a 36-19 overall record and a third place conference finish with a mark of 17-9 in the MVC.
SIU now must shift from being one of the most experienced teams in the conference to one of the youngest, as it added six freshmen to replace the departed seniors. Those six are Amy Harre, Maria Damico, Jami Weddle, Kelly Creek, Katie Jordan and Karen Brannan.
While most freshmen are given a year or so to adjust to college ball, the Saluki six don't have that opportunity, since the team's success or failure will be on their shoulders.
"They're going to make big contributions this year because we only have 14 [healthy players] so they have to step right in," said senior second baseman Tahira Saafir. "We have a lot of good freshmen; a lot of guys are going to fill big roles right away and they're ready for it."
SIU head coach Kerri Blaylock isn't quite sure what to expect about the upcoming season, which gets underway Friday when the Salukis open play at the Mississippi State Bulldog Classic.
While SIU has several talented returnees - such as catcher Karrie Fortman, infielders Saafir and twins Adie and Haley Viefhaus and outfielder Jen Guenther - Blaylock said the development of the six freshmen and junior transfer Renee Mueller will determine how far the 2002 Salukis will go.
"I think it's a little bit of an unknown because we're young and we've had some injuries," Blaylock said. "We have the ability to do really well, but I think it will remain to be seen how we translate. We still have a lot of talent, don't get me wrong. We have a lot of talent, but I think depth will be a question for us."
The injury Blaylock referred to was an elbow injury to starting first baseman Weddle. Weddle, the Salukis' leading hitter in fall ball, will be out until at least the beginning of March, but will only be able to play then as the designated player. Blaylock doesn't expect her to return to playing first until sometime in April.
To fill the void, Blaylock moved Guenther in from the outfield and has been pleased by how she has handled the switch so far.
"She's doing a good job, she really is," Blaylock said. "Guenther is such a smart player and she picks up things very well because she's a student of the game."
Another unknown for SIU is how the new pitching crew of Katie Kloess, Mueller and Harre will respond. Kloess is the only pitcher who was on the team last year, but she was often an afterthought behind Stremsterfer. Kloess started 17 games and went 7-7 with a 1.98 ERA.
The main difference, besides the absence of Stremsterfer, is the Salukis will have three pitchers they can rely on instead of depending on one.
"When somebody's not on, there's going to be two other people to pick them up," Kloess said. "People are going to be coming in in save situations; some people are going to be pitching the whole game and sometimes not. It'll be different, but it'll be a good different."
Blaylock feels Kloess is ready to have a breakout season, but knows that Mueller and Harre are going to take some time to adjust to Division I softball.
"I think we can be a very, very, very good staff. I don't think there's any question about that," Blaylock said "But again, we've got to give ourselves some time to get into it."
All the mystery surrounding the young team should enable the Salukis to sneak up on teams early in the season, but if their talent comes around like is expected, it won't take long for that luxury to run its course.
"People think that since we did lose six seniors that it's going to be a growing year for us, which maybe it will be," Haley Viefhaus said. "But we don't look at it like that at all because we have such good talent on our team."
Reporter Jens Deju can be reached at jdeju@dailyegyptian.com
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