Winless set still valuable for Cougars

Although the results weren’t good, the Columbia College softball team enjoyed the experience of playing in the Mizzou Invitational. The Cougars, an NAIA program, got to play on MU’s University Field and play against Northwestern, the 2006 NCAA runner-up and current No. 7 team, as well as Missouri and Western Illinois.

Northwestern beat Columbia College 12-1 in five innings Sunday and the Cougars finished 0-3 in the tournament after falling 8-0 to the Leathernecks and 20-5 to the Tigers on Friday. Still, the Cougars said they were glad to have the opportunity to play Division I teams.

“It’s a great opportunity to step on the field with that caliber of competition,” Columbia College coach Wendy Spratt said. “We do it for the experience of the girls. Our goal is get where we need to be at the end of the year, and you have to face tough competition to be able to do that. I think it’s imperative for all the girls. We haven’t had these guys on our schedule in the past, so it’s valuable experience for everyone on the field.”

One Cougar who particularly enjoyed the weekend was freshman Jena Strobel. Columbia College (6-9) scored just six runs on the weekend, and Strobel accounted for half of them with her 3-RBI performance against the Tigers on Friday.

“It felt really good,” she said. “I was kind of in a slump, so it felt good to get out of that. Hopefully, I can keep going with it.”

Strobel has seen increased playing time at third base over the past six games because Ashley Perrigo left the team and Chris Schoonover has been out with an illness. Spratt said she has been impressed with the freshman’s play.

“Jena’s really been doing a great job for us,” she said. “She started out in the fall, and she was one of our best hitters. She started the year and was doing really well then she kind of had a slump. Now she’s coming back out of it, and we expect big things from her.”

In Sunday’s game, Northwestern had little difficulty with Columbia College pitchers Meghan Bailey and Katie McMahon, scoring three runs in the first inning and four in the second on just four hits. The Wildcats and were aided by six walks and inconsistent defense from the Cougars. Strobel said the Cougars were nervous early in the game.

“We were intimidated, no doubt,” she said. “But, we just tried to have fun with it and not show our nerves.”

Missouri did not have any success against Northwestern, either. In another five-inning game, the Wildcats (19-5) scored seven runs in the first, leading to a 10-0 victory. Tigers starter Alaina Jacobson was charged with all seven runs and recorded just one out before being replaced by Jana Hainey. Northwestern ace Eileen Canney held the Tigers to one hit.

“She’s a potential All-American pitcher,” Missouri coach Ehren Earleywine said of Canney.

“The problem is that the reality is once that first inning happened and they get seven runs, what are you going to do, score nine runs against a potential All-American? So then you just start counting the innings until it’s over because it was over after the first.”

One bright spot in the game for the Tigers (22-16) was the pitching of Jen Bruck, who held Northwestern hitless over the final two innings.

In Missouri’s first game of the day, the Tigers scored eight runs in the fifth inning to turn a 5-2 deficit into a 10-5 lead and held on for a 10-8 win over Western Illinois.

Missouri started the inning with consecutive home runs from Amanda Renth, Micaela Minner and Jen Bruck. Renth capped the scoring with her second home run of the inning, a grand slam over the right field wall.

The Tigers finished the tournament 3-3. Missouri and Columbia College will now focus on conference play. For the Cougars though, the tournament was something they won’t soon forget.

“The results really weren’t what we wanted, but it was a real good experience because we never get to play D-I teams, if anything, it will make us better,” Strobel said. “We had fun with it, it was just a learning experience.”