Kirsten Lightel steps onto the mound and stares down her first batter of the second game, Wilmington’s Megan Warren. Warren may have had optimism heading into game one of the doubleheader, but that sentiment has all but run out now. Lightel struck Warren out twice in game one, and she will strike her out twice more in game two. This would be surprising, except for the fact that Lightel does this on a nightly basis.
Lightel leads the conference in strikeouts (76), wins (11) and ERA (1.26) as of April 8. She strikes out nearly seven batters per game and has thrown ten complete games in 12 starts. As a pitching staff, Northern leads the OAC in all major stat categories (lowest ERA, least hits allowed, least runs allowed, most strikeouts, etc.).
So, maybe opposing teams have trouble scoring on the Polar Bears. Who’s to say they can’t engage the Bears in a pitching duel?
Put simply, it’s not an easy task. Northern’s leadoff batter is freshman right fielder Anna Martin, who is batting .303 and leads the conference in stolen bases. Letting Martin on base is essentially giving her two or three additional bases.
Next in the order is freshman second baseman Jenna Hollar, who bats a staggering .400 and is second in the OAC is stolen bases.
With two roadrunners on base, opposing pitchers are at the mercy of ONU’s power hitters in the middle of the order; this includes senior Kelly Sheridan (batting .382), junior Amanda Lahti (.379) and freshman Gia Saturday
(27 RBIs).
In other words, there’s no way out for opposing teams. This combination of solid pitching and efficient hitting has led the Polar Bears to a 15-6 (6-2) record, placing them third in the OAC. Their two OAC losses have come to Heidelberg, who ranks first in the conference, and to Mount Union by one run.
This record is remarkable considering the fact that the Bears are one of the youngest teams in the conference. Ten of the team’s 18 players are freshmen, and five freshman position players have played in at least 15 games.
Although they are a young team, coach Ali Hess believes that expe- rience doesn’t change the game.
“I don’t think it’s anything but exciting when you have a lot of young kids on the field. The thing about playing a sport is that they have all been playing for so long; whether you’re a freshman, sophomore, junior or senior, the sport doesn’t change, the athlete doesn’t change. So, for us, it’s not really a big deal,” Hess said.
Lightel is one of five freshman pitchers in the OAC who have pitched 30 innings or more (she has pitched 77.2) and Northern’s number of freshmen (10) is second only to Otterbein, who has 11.
“The field doesn’t know how old we are,” Saturday, freshman shortstop, said. “If we’re able to play, whether we’re 18 or 22, we’re still expected to play well and win.”
One way that the Bears have been able to succeed thus far offensively is by playing small-ball. ONU leads the OAC in stolen bases and is fourth in runs scored, although they are near the bottom of the conference in home runs.
Hess believes that the team’s speed has played a big factor in their offensive strategy.
“We’re going to be a lot more aggressive in terms of seeing hit-and-runs, bunt-and-runs; we should steal more,” Hess said. “We have more ability to be more aggressive in a quick way. We still have our home-run power, our doubles power and all of that, but we didn’t have the speed last year that we have this year.”
The Lady Bears will try to maintain their league-leading pitching and effective small-ball offense as the regular season comes to a close. They are hunting for their sixth OAC title in the past seven years, and the chance to make it back to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2012.
The Bears are coming off a doubleheader sweep of John Carroll, who ranks fourth in the conference, on Monday night. Their next doubleheader will be on Friday night, when they travel to Otterbein.