Judson enjoying big turnaround

It's been quite the turnaround for the Judson University softball team.

After going 22-25 in 2014, the Eagles, under new coach Venus Taylor, found themselves 18-8 overall through Wednesday. Judson also was off to a 10-1 start in the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference. Judson won 10 conference games all of last year.

"It has been super exciting," said Taylor. "The games are tough in the CCAC and we are definitely where we want to be. We have some big conference games coming up against some ranked teams in the conference. Our conference is very competitive."

Judson had its 10-0 start in conference snapped with a Game 1 loss to No. 5 Saint Xavier on Wednesday. The two teams were tied at 3-3 in the eighth inning in the nightcap when the game was stopped due to darkness.

Through 27 games, Judson was hitting .294 as a team with five regulars hitting above .300. Sarah Friedlund (DeKalb) was leading the team at .367 with 11 doubles, 4 homers and 26 RBI. Murielle Vansach (Northern Illinois University previously) was hitting .362 (2 HR, 15 RBI). Jacobs graduate Katie Kirker was batting .342 with 10 RBI, while Nicolettte Chapa (Jacobs) was hitting .317 with 10 doubles and 12 RBI. Brianna Tennyson (Pleasant Prairie, Wis.) sported a .303 average with 18 RBI. Shortstop Lauren King (Burlington Central) is tied with Friedlund for the most homers on the team with four.

"Sarah's done well for us in the No. 3 spot," said Taylor. "Muriel gets our offense started and Lauren King has been a clutch all-around go-get-it player." One of the reasons we are successful now is offensively we are strong. We've done a great job executing plays and moving runners up and coming up with the big hit when it matters. We've had some clutch performances from key players. We've really focused on detail offensively."

Judson's 1-2 pitching punch of Tennyson and Kirker also has helped. Tennyson was 11-5 with a 2.50 ERA and 84 strikeouts in 98 innings (through Wednesday), while Kirker was 7-2 with a 2.76 ERA and had 70 strikeouts in 73⅔ innings (68 hits allowed). Opponents were hitting only .231 against the Judson pitching staff.

"We have two strong pitchers," said Taylor. "It's good to have a 1-2 combo like that in our conference when we are playing these doubleheaders."

Taylor said the team's turnaround would not be possible without a positive response from her players.

"Everybody is buying into the commitment," she said. "Everybody is working had and everybody feels we have to do the work to be successful. They don't want to be .500 anymore. I listened to their goals and then we set some new goals and some new high standards. They are focused on the task at hand and they have the work ethic to be a championship-type team. It's been fun getting all this into place. We want to build a consistent winning culture here and we have good girls who are good people and work hard."

Taylor added the team is looking forward to the challenging schedule that lies ahead.

"We have some very big games coming up," she said. "I strongly believe if we play like we are capable of and are a solid all-around team, we have a solid shot at winning. These girls want to win and they are working hard at it. We talk about that extra push and having that extra grit. We talk about accountability and building a culture here that will sustain winning."

Elgin Community College update: After not fielding a team last year, the Elgin Community College softball program is back up and running again under the direction of coach Jordan Smith.

Through Tuesday, ECC was 1-2 overall and sported a 10-player roster.

"We have some good players, but we're not very deep," said Smith. "We have one extra player and two pitchers. There's very little depth."

Smith noted the team started out with 15 players, but for a variety of reasons the number dwindled to 10.

"I'm out there recruiting a ton for next season," said Smith. "We want to load up on kids for next year. It's nice that we're fielding a team this year. I thought we had recruited enough kids and some dropped off at the last second and we took some kids at the last second that hadn't gone through our training process over the winter."

Smith has seen some positives from the limited sample size this spring. "We've made some plays defensively and we have some girls in the lineup who are looking strong. Our pitchers have thrown very well so far and our infield in general isn't bad."

ECC's pitching duo consists of Dundee-Crown graduate Amanda Eissler and Bartlett product Amy Johnson. Smith said both threw well in ECC's doubleheader split with Morton earlier this week (2-0 loss, 2-1 win).

Nikki Banks (Larkin) and Monica Stockman (Elgin) have been two bright spots in particular in the batting order, along with St. Charles East graduate Shelby Holtz.

Smith said he's been pounding the pavement at local high school games, planning for ECC's future.

"We know we'll have more kids coming in next year for sure," he said. "I'm going to as many high school games as I possibly can and we want as many kids as possible for next year. It is going to take some time and I have the support from the athletic department. Look at how successful the baseball program at ECC has become. I know I have people in the department that I can bounce ideas off of."

Smith added another goal of his is preparing his players for life after ECCsoftball.

"I come from travel softball (Wasco Diamonds) where one of the goals is to get kids into colleges," he said. "I want to prepare the girls who play in this program to go on to play at four-year colleges if that is what they choose. That's part of my vision in what I'm trying to do here."