DePaul University Athletics
No Swagger in DePaul's 3-1 Loss to Texas
2/13/2010 12:00:00 AM | SOFTBALL
AUSTIN, TEXAS - Eugene Lenti built his program on a quality pitching staff that could lead DePaul deep into the collegiate softball postseason.
But starting out, Becca Heteniak and Bree Brown just didn't have it on Friday.
Heteniak, a second-team All-American last year, was a little out of kilter in a 3-1 loss to Texas in the Time Warner Cable Invitational.
That followed up Brown's tough outing in a 4-1 loss to No. 13/18 LSU.
"Pitching is normally our strength, but today it was our weakness," said Lenti, DePaul's coach. "Becca historically walks a lot of hitters early in the season, and she had four against Texas.
"She was struggling with her movement pitches and wound up giving up some big hits in key situations. There were too many big hits with a two-strike count."
With the game tied 1-1 in the bottom of the sixth inning, the Longhorns' Lexy Bennett doubled to left-center and watched from the bench as pinch-runner Torie Schmidt scored on Nadia Taylor's single.
After a walk to Raygan Feight, Amy Hooks singled to drive in Taylor.
Texas (1-0) had opened the scoring in the third on a Hooks double followed by a Tara Voss error and Taylor Hoagland's RBI single.
DePaul (0-2) tied it in the fifth inning beginning with a Samantha Morgan double. Alex Morocco sacrificed pinch-runner Voss to third, and Annie Demas drove her home with a single down the right-field line.
"Everybody is disappointed in the way we played," Lenti said. "There wasn't much offense, and we didn't show that swagger. They seemed kind of listless out there.
"We're playing some really good teams down here, and we're finding out things about our team. Sure, we'd like to win the tournament---but it's still very early.
"Nobody ever won an NCAA softball championship in February."
Heteniak had three hits on the day while the rest of the Blue Demons combined for a total of five.
That prompted Lenti to consider batting the power-hitting Heteniak at leadoff in Saturday's 11 a.m. game against No. 19/22 North Carolina.
"It doesn't do much good if Becca's getting two-out hits with nobody on base," Lenti said. "If she gets on right away, that gives us more options offensively. I might just try it.
"After the game, I told our players they needed to come out with a lot more intensity. We can't just show up and play. These are some pretty good teams with proud softball histories.
"It was cold today with temperatures in the 40s. We're the cold-weather team---but we got out-hit by the warm-weather teams."
NOTES: Heteniak is batting .600 after the first two games, but the Blue Demons will go into Saturday's showdown with North Carolina sporting a .182 team batting average... along with Heteniak, Demas, Morgan, Sean Plese and Simone Ashkar had hits against the Longhorns... Texas freshman Kim Bruins from Redlands, Calif. went the distance, striking out three and walking one... the Longhorns turned a pair of double plays behind her... DePaul left two runners on base while Texas left six.
