First two, then six and now 10 games — the Cal softball team’s win streak has been consistently growing since its initial 2-2 start as the Bears prepare for their most physically exhausting weekend yet.
This weekend, No. 8 Cal (11-2) will play in the DeMarini Invitational in Fullerton, Calif., looking to get four more consecutive wins against Northwestern, Cal Poly, Indiana and Wisconsin and extend that win streak to 14 straight games.
Junior Britt Vonk is confident about getting more wins, and she has reason to be. The Bears beat all four unranked teams in their previous matchups, and they are the heavy favorites to win all their games this weekend.
“We’re going to get the four wins,” Vonk said.
Besides being runner-up in the Women’s College World Series and having a 58-7 record last season, the Bears also boast an intimidating lineup featuring pitcher Jolene Henderson, whose incredible pitching has been a winning catalyst for the team lately.
The impact of Henderson’s pitching has been evident in the scores of Cal’s past 10 games. Out of these 10 games, Henderson pitched six shutouts while maintaining a phenomenal ERA of 1.19 for the season. On the mound, Henderson has only let in 15 runs while striking out 78 players on the season.
Though the Bears have turned on cruise control, their opponents won’t just roll over and hand them the wins. Their first opponent on Friday’s doubleheader, Northwestern, has been gaining confidence with their own five game win streak and are looking to upset Cal.
The Wildcats (8-6) have been picking up steam behind pitching ace Meghan Lamberth, who recently went 2-0 in the circle while pitching a 0.48 ERA during Northwestern’s last five games. Her counterpart, sophomore Amy Letourneau, went 3-0 and led a huge upset against No. 4 Tennessee, holding her opponents to a .162 batting average.
This weekend will also be the first time Cal will have four games in a span of two days, which might prove to be a challenge.
“We’re going to need to keep our energy up this weekend,” Vonk said. “This is the first time we have two doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday, so I think it’s going to be physically tough.”
In order to come home sucessful, Cal will also have to take down Indiana and Wisconsin, who are 10-5 and 10-1 on the season, respectively. The Bears already beat Indiana, 9-1, during their first preseason tournament, but since then the Hoosiers have won nine out of 11 games, two of those wins against No. 24 Georgia Tech.
Wisconsin won’t be a cakewalk either since the Badgers have only given up one game this season. Wisconsin’s outfielder Mary Massei will be sure to give the Cal pitchers trouble as she bats .525 leads her team in hits with 14 this season.
Most likely, Cal will go 4-0 against their unranked opponents this weekend. The Bears, especially the veterans, know that this preseason play is just a stepping stone to getting back to the WCWS and winning that championship that slipped through their fingers last season.
Johnny Zhang covers softball. Contact him at [email protected] Follow him on Twitter @thejohnnyzhang.