Very Good Weekend For The Griffs

The Golden Griffins finished the Coastal Carolina Tournament 3-2, and they gave #33 DePaul a good game today, but the encouraging sign was the continuing emergence of their offense. Nine home runs (2 grand slams), 39 hits (that's with three 5 inning games), and 31 runs are what the Griffs need with two young pitchers. Well, maybe it's more than they need. The Griffs are hitting .287 as a team, 26 points above last year's final number. Opponents are hitting .248 against them.

I'm wondering how good sophomore Lizzy Gatto is going to be. The DePaul coach insisted that her home run against the Blue Demons was the result of a "bad pitch". Well, then don't go throwing Lizzy "bad pitches" or else she'll blast it out of the park! Lizzy is currently hitting .400.

Michelle Fridey is hitting .390 with 16 RBIs, 5 doubles, 1 triple, 2 homers. Emily Helbig is at .359 which is scary because historically her average rises once she gets to MAAC play. Lauren Hope is at .313 with 11 runs and 9 RBIs.

But moreover, the Griffs seem to be gelling as an offensive unit. Last season they would go long spells with cold bats, relying on the arm of Mallory Aldred, but we're not seeing that this season. And I think they are steps ahead of the rest of the MAAC after watching them closely, although Fairfield's Sarah Minice beat Pittsburgh in 11 innings and will be a challenge.

I thought the most impressive win this weekend was against Jacksonville, a team that was ranked 37th in the nation and beat Virginia Tech and gave Florida a good game. The Griffs shut them down, 5-0. The Canisius pitchers got good innings in, and need more, but at this point last season, the Griffs were 6-7 so they are on target, and with a tougher schedule.

Next weekend the Griffs are scheduled to play at George Washington U., where I believe they can win all four games. However, they had an awful lot of snow recently, so maybe it's in doubt. We'll see.