Buffalo softball's weekend ended a little early thanks to a rainout versus Memphis, but not before the team split each of a pair of doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday, defeating Memphis (5-3), losing to Notre Dame (5-4), and trading wins in two games against St. John's (3-4).
The Golden Panther Invitational in Miami, Fla. set the stage for the team's five-game season opener.
"We had such great momentum and mindset going into Sunday," said head coach Marie Curran. "We were very excited that we would've been playing Memphis again since we only beat them 1-0 the first time, but obviously that didn't happen."
The first of the four-game set that Buffalo was able to play was a high-scoring 10-6 win against St. John's. The Bulls seemed to feel most comfortable under pressure as all 10 runs came after the second out had been recorded in the inning.
Junior pitcher Sophie Barstad put forth a strong performance for Buffalo by not only recording the win from the pitchers mound with two earned runs in 6.2 innings, but also contributing a game-high five RBIs.
"Funny enough, I've seen Sophie pitch a lot better and Sophie knows it too," Curran said. "The example of how a good, confident pitcher takes control of a team, Sophie did that."
Friday's second game, and probably most difficult game of the weekend, came in the form of a close 1-0 loss to Notre Dame. Despite out-hitting the Fighting Irish 4-3, the Bulls found themselves in an old fashioned pitcher's duel where sophomore pitcher Margo Schramm's one-run complete game simply wasn't enough to earn a win.
"Notre Dame was difficult because we always tell our players to be aggressive," Curran said. "We don't want anyone to take advantage of us being lazy and we were very aggressive. We went after a runner at third base who came off the base and the ball ended up in the outfield so it was difficult to really say anyone made an error."
The game against Notre Dame could have very well been the difference-maker for the Fighting Irish as the team continued on to win the tournament with a 3-1 record.
The pain of the close 1-0 loss was cured on Saturday by a 1-0 win for the Bulls over Memphis. Barstad threw a five-hit complete game to get her fourth career shutout and also singled past the pitcher in the first inning to account for the game's only RBI.
The Bulls pressed on to face St. John's in a second-game grudge match on Saturday, only to find that revenge would work out in the Red Storm's favor. Buffalo led the first two innings, scoring six runs to St. John's five. However, the Red Storm pulled away with five more runs in the following two innings to clinch the 11-6 win.
"Memphis was great. Sophie came up and ripped a ball off of the pitcher's thigh," Curran said. "After that, we played defense the way we can, we made some great plays behind Sophie and Lauren Picciano was flawless defensively."
All in all, Curran feels that the women performed well this weekend, but there is definitely room for improvement. She explained that although they are more focused and playing with more emotion than last season, it will be more and more important to not make any mistakes as games go by.
"If you ask any of them, they think we should've went 4-0 this weekend, and they're right," Curran said. "So the confidence is there, now it's just (necessary) to build on that and not make little mistakes."
The women next play at the Plant City Tournament in Plant City, Fla., where they will face Boston University, Illinois State, Harvard and Michigan State over a span of two days.
