Ask any University of Illinois Springfield softball player and she’ll tell you last year was a success. Eleven of the Prairie Stars’ 18 players are returnees.
The pitching staff is made up entirely of juniors and seniors. Four of the five pitched for UIS last spring.
Aubrey Watson produced a 7-4 record and had the top earned run average (1.83). Watson, junior Tina Buck (4.11 ERA, 73 strikeouts) and senior Heather Gradishar (3.42 ERA) logged the most innings.
With pitching covered, Coach Mat Mundell recruited players for other needs.
“The element of speed is something we really worked on,” he said. “We tried to bring in more speed to be able to change the game a little bit with that offensively."
The Stars will put their skill on display by opening the season Feb. 23 with six games over three days in Bentonville, Ark.
The team was featured in an February 23, 2012, article in The State Journal-Register.
Read the article online
