Super Seniors Get Chance to Return

Seniors Sadie Ball and Stephanie Ray who both ran into injuries this past season and were unable to complete their senior season, have both received medical red-shirts and are able to participate in next year's season.
Ball, a Elon Community College and Butler Community College transfer is in her 5th year of schooling and was planning on finishing up this year. Her freshman season at Elon, Ball tore her ACL in her left knee and was forced to red-shirt. After having two successful seasons at Butler CC, Ball transfered into Drury University and had an amazing junior year. She batted .388 on the season and recorded over 20 stolen bases and lead the team in almost every hitting category.
Ball faced her worst nightmare this off-season when she tore her right ACL during a conditioning practice in Weiser Gym in the middle of February. Ball has since had surgery and just recently received her medical red-shirt and qualifies to participate in next year's season.
Fellow senior Ray, a Labette Community College transfer is in her 4th year of school and also had plans to graduate this may. After minor shoulder issues in her 2008 season, Ray tore her rotator cuff and labrum in the fall of 2009. After surgery and rehabilitation, she has slowly gained her throwing back, which will be useful for the 2010 Panthers as 3rd basemanRay had the highest fielding percentage.
Coach Annie Medico is more than excited about the return of these two seniors who struggled this past year having to sit and watch on the sidelines. Hopefully with the addition of both Ball and Ray next year, the Panthers can look forward to a turn-around season.

Conference Games at UMSL

The Drury Softball team lost both GLVC road games vs. Missouri-St. Louis with a 1-0 loss in the first game and a 4-3 loss in 10 innings in the second on Sunday April 26. UMSL Senior Pitcher Ally DeFosset earned the victory in the first game allowing just two hits. Missouri-St. Louis had just three hits in the game off of sophomore pitcher Kelsea Garthoff who received the loss. They scored late in the 5th inning off of a 2 error inning.
In the second game UMSL scored in the 2nd inning with DU tying it up in the fourth inning on a Laura McCarthy single to score Amber Hayden. The panthers then took the lead in the fifth inning when Tori Whitehead scored on an error, but after a pitching change in the 6th inning, UMSL tied it up with an earned run off of sophomore pitcher Laura McCarthy.
In the 10th inning Hayden doubled and scored on an error which put the panthers up 3-2. But UMSL returned in the 10th with a two run homer and McCarthy got the loss. Garthoff threw 13 of the 17 innings.

Conference Weekend

The Drury Softball team split a set of GLVC conference games vs. Missouri S&T with an 8-1 win folloed by a 2-0 loss on Saturday April 25. The Panthers scored early in the first game pushing across a run in the first inning on an RBI single by Jessica Matlock. The Panthers scored again in the second when freshman shortstop Amber Hayden hit an RBI single. DU followed up in the third with another run on a Jana Provance RBI single to score 1st baseman Laura McCarthy. Missouri S&T came back in the third and scored on a Provance error in right field.

The Panthers followed in the fifth inning with another 5 runs to make the score 8-1 and held the Miners the rest of the game. Kelsea Garthoff got the win. Drury had 10 hits and the Miners had four.
In the second game Missouri S&T scored runs in the first and the fifth for a 2-0 shutout win. DU had six hits and the Miners had eight.

Spring Break Catastrophe

The Drury Softball team's Spring Break tour ended this past weekend with a return from Gaffney, South Carolina. The team went 2-4 on the 7 day trip and visited Kentucky, Ohio, South Carolina, and Georgia.
Sophomore pitcher/infielder Laura McCarthy had complications on the trip as a Northern Kentucky player stuck a cleat in the back of her ankle with had to be followed up with stitches and a few days rest. The panthers were down to 9 players for a few games, but hung tough. Sophomore pitcher Brittany Davis had not stepped in the batter's box for over two years before McCarthy's injury, but was forced to step up for the Panthers and even managed to get a hit in 1 of her 3 at-bats.
The lady panthers also played Quincy University this afternoon and dropped a pair of games, however Jana Provance had four hits and an RBI on the day, and Brittany Davis threw a great game. A disappointed coach, Annie Medico, pleaded with her team to not give up on the season as there are still 23 games left, and plenty of time to make it to the conference tournament.
The panthers are back in action on Wednesday in Joplin, MO against Missouri Southern State University.

2nd weekend

The Drury University softball team is now 5-8 after the second weekend of the season. The tournament took place in Hot Springs, Arkansas with other teams such as Cameron, Tarleton, and Texas A&M-Kingsville. The panthers went 2-3 on the weekend with a huge win against Tarleton who has an outstanding record of 11-3. Junior outfielder/catcher standout from Butler Community College Jessica Matlock had a record day at the plate on Sunday going 5/7 with 4 RBI's and 2 doubles.
After a rough off-season the Lady Panthers lost two of three seniors to injury while losing two other players (one for medicinal purposes and one quitting) the team is down to 11 players (10 starters). Because of this small team Coach Medico is facing multiple injuries from the 10 starters due to overuse.

The worn out Panthers travel to Pitt state this weekend for a tournament on Friday and Saturday while touring to Jopling on Sunday to finish out the weekend with games against nationally ranked number two Emporia State and Truman State.

First Week

Hey all! Just thought to drop a note for Drury University's first week of play in the softball season in '09. We posted up a 3-5 record thus far with wins against Arkansas Tech, Delta State, and SBU. Sophomore catcher Ashley Balazs is leading the team with 11 hits and a .427 batting average while I come in second at .390. Our pitching looks to be pretty solid this year with 3 of us being starters as well as one relief pitcher. The biggest struggle for our team comes with infield as have had over 20 errors in the past 8 games. Ouch! But we hope to pull it together in time for this weekends appearance in Hot Springs, Arkansas for a 7 game tournament. I will update as the season progresses. Wish us luck!



Kelsea