DePaul University Athletics
DePaul Hoping to Get Hot in Hawai'i
3/12/2010 12:00:00 AM | SOFTBALL
CHICAGO - Nobody enjoys cramming for a final exam, but DePaul's softball players may have actually enjoyed their study sessions this week.
That's because the Blue Demons were cracking the books on a beach in Hawai'i during their five-day trip to compete in the Pepsi Malihini Kipa Aloha Tournament in Honolulu.
"Yeah, it's study-table in paradise," said DePaul softball coach Eugene Lenti. "I'm not big on sitting out in the sun---I'd rather be in the shade. The guy sitting under an umbrella reading a book---that will be me."
The Blue Demons got in full workout Thursday in the sunny, 80-degree weather and also enjoyed doing some sightseeing with their teammates and family members who accompanied them. They were scheduled to visit a shark tank two days before their tournament opener on Friday against Troy (14-6).
"Our success in Hawai'I will all start with our pitching," Lenti said. "If our pitching is consistently good, we'll be fine.
"Our defense has been very good in all three tournaments we played this season. So long as our pitching is on, we'll find a way to score runs."
Scoring runs and hitting long balls have been a specialty of the host team, the Hawai'i Rainbows---who are batting .302 as a team and have hit 40 home runs.
"We're going to have our hands full in this tournament," Lenti said. "Troy (14-6) has a pitcher named Ashlyn Williams who is 10-5 with 157 strikeouts.
"And Hawai'i (12-8) is a very strong offensive team. This is a power program that has made plenty of NCAA tournament appearances."
Talk about Hawaiian punch, seven batters in the heart of the Rainbows batting order have hit a collective 32 home runs and driven in 95 runs. Leading the way are Melissa Gonzalez (.400, five homers) and Kelly Majam (.394, six home runs, 14 RBI, 19 runs) while Amanda Tauali'I (.321) and Traci Yoshikawa (.308) share the team lead with 17 RBI apiece.
Lenti realizes his pitching staff will need to keep the Blue Demons in the game, and he was encouraged by some of the efforts in last weekend's Easton Challenge at Alabama.
"Becca Heteniak pitched two solid games at the Alabama tournament and Bree Brown turned it around last Sunday against the Crimson Tide," Lenti said. "Our whole offense started to come alive, and it wasn't the main hitters---it was everybody else.
"We were scoring runs without Becca and Simone Ashkar, our two best hitters, and Sean Plese, our fastest player."
After enduring a string of 17 scoreless innings in Tuscaloosa, Ala., the Blue Demons scored four runs in the sixth inning against then-No. 8/6 Alabama and loaded the bases in the seventh inning before coming up short 6-4.
"The weather should aid the offenses because everybody hits better when it's warmer outside," Lenti said. "I'm sure we'll pick it up offensively, even though we're going to be facing some good pitching.
"We made some adjustments at practice with some of our players to get them going."
