On Sunday October 4, a great fall day, the SFU softball team played host to the UBC softball team. It was a great chance to see the team in action before their GNAC season starts next February. The final score was 6–4 for the Thunderbirds, thanks in part to a great fifth inning.
“Well, it’s fall for us, and for us these are scrimmages,” said SFU head coach Mike Renney. “So we play open substitutions and stuff like that. So it’s a chance for us to get our freshman in the games. Our freshman kind of got their feet wet, and it’s good chance to play some ball in great fall weather.”
UBC got off to a quick 1–0 lead in the first, after the SFU shortstop committed an error. SFU was able to get back into a 2–1 lead in the bottom of the first, tying it with a sacrifåice fly ball and taking the lead off an error from the second basemen.
The game was looking good for SFU until the fifth inning. UBC exploded for four runs, with the rally starting off with a successful bunt. In the sixth, UBC was able to add one more run after a double sent the runner from third home.
In the bottom of the seventh, SFU made things interesting. They were able to get runners on the corners with no outs, and the runner from third was able to slide home after a single. SFU added another run, but it was too little left too late.
The game was just a scrimmage, but these games are used to determine what needs to be improved for the upcoming season. “If anything, we look for things to identify that we have to invest in in the offseason,” said Renney after the game. “For us, we’re not looking to see what we did right, we’re looking to see what we aren’t doing right. We then build upon those things, make our list, and tackle them when we head indoors.”
Renney elaborated on what the team needed to improve on heading into the season. “We’re pretty much where we expected to be this time of year. One of the things we need to get more of is experience for our freshman. So they got that today, and we continue to invest with them.
“We got a solid defensive lineup, some good pitching depth and certainly some offensive potential but they all have to be clicking on all cylinders. If we can get B+ and A games from each of those categories, we’ll be fine.”
