Spring Break
Column: Young athletes help softball team
Neil Schneider/Columnist
Issue date: 3/5/09 Section: Sports
Two reasons for the success of the Eastern softball team (8-4) this season has been the play of sophomores Kiley Holtz and Amber May.
For the second time in a span of three weeks, Eastern's softball team had players who took both Ohio Valley Conference weekly honors.
Holtz, a third baseman/catcher, and May, a pitcher, were the recipients of the awards.
Holtz was the OVC Player of the Week and May was the OVC Pitcher of the Week.
Holtz demonstrated why she deserved the award. She led all Panther batters with a batting average of .750 and a slugging percentage of 1.250. Her two biggest hits came against North Carolina Central, where Holtz hit a double and a two-run home run en route to going 6-for-8 during the game. Holtz would eventually finish the three-game Kennesaw State tourney with four RBIs and zero strikeouts.
For the first time in her Eastern career, Holtz started at catcher for back-to-back games, including starting all three games during the tournament.
After the tournament, Eastern softball head coach Kim Schuette said Holtz played well and worked hard with the pitchers.
May earned her second OVC honor of the season after earning All-NJCAA honors last season at Heartland College.
Against Kennesaw State, May pitched a complete game, striking out 10 batters and only walking one. May also pitched another 2.1 innings during the weekend, striking out four with no walks.
At the end of the weekend May finished with a zero ERA, while holding opposing batters to a .188 average.
While both players had a successful weekend, May's overall statistics and Holtz's fielding skills have also been constant throughout the season.
May is currently 5-1 with a 1.20 ERA in eight appearances. She has 36 strikeouts while only pitching 40.2 innings. May has also only allowed 27 hits, while holding opposing batters to a .194 batting average.
Holtz made herself noticeable by her perfect fielding percentage.
Holtz hasn't committed any errors in her nine appearances playing catcher this season. The Panthers will need both May and Holtz to continue to improve their current play, as well as improved play from the rest of the team, if they expect to be successful this season. But more importantly, with both being sophomores, the Eastern softball team has players they can build around.
Neil Schneider can be reached at 581-7944 or at jnschneider@eiu.edu.
For the second time in a span of three weeks, Eastern's softball team had players who took both Ohio Valley Conference weekly honors.
Holtz, a third baseman/catcher, and May, a pitcher, were the recipients of the awards.
Holtz was the OVC Player of the Week and May was the OVC Pitcher of the Week.
Holtz demonstrated why she deserved the award. She led all Panther batters with a batting average of .750 and a slugging percentage of 1.250. Her two biggest hits came against North Carolina Central, where Holtz hit a double and a two-run home run en route to going 6-for-8 during the game. Holtz would eventually finish the three-game Kennesaw State tourney with four RBIs and zero strikeouts.
For the first time in her Eastern career, Holtz started at catcher for back-to-back games, including starting all three games during the tournament.
After the tournament, Eastern softball head coach Kim Schuette said Holtz played well and worked hard with the pitchers.
May earned her second OVC honor of the season after earning All-NJCAA honors last season at Heartland College.
Against Kennesaw State, May pitched a complete game, striking out 10 batters and only walking one. May also pitched another 2.1 innings during the weekend, striking out four with no walks.
At the end of the weekend May finished with a zero ERA, while holding opposing batters to a .188 average.
While both players had a successful weekend, May's overall statistics and Holtz's fielding skills have also been constant throughout the season.
May is currently 5-1 with a 1.20 ERA in eight appearances. She has 36 strikeouts while only pitching 40.2 innings. May has also only allowed 27 hits, while holding opposing batters to a .194 batting average.
Holtz made herself noticeable by her perfect fielding percentage.
Holtz hasn't committed any errors in her nine appearances playing catcher this season. The Panthers will need both May and Holtz to continue to improve their current play, as well as improved play from the rest of the team, if they expect to be successful this season. But more importantly, with both being sophomores, the Eastern softball team has players they can build around.
Neil Schneider can be reached at 581-7944 or at jnschneider@eiu.edu.
The Daily Eastern News encourages on-topic, civil discussion on its articles posted online. It is our policy not to screen comments before they are posted or edit them after they are posted. However, we reserve the right to remove comments that are off-topic, malicious, libelous or include excessive foul language. The DEN also reserves the right to turn off all comments on any story it deems necessary.
Comments violating copyright law will also be removed.
Users who repeatedly violate this policy will be banned from commenting.
If you have any questions on our comment policy or wish to report a comment that you feel violates these standards, please e-mail a link to the article to our Online Editor at DENNews.com@gmail.com.
Be the first to comment on this story