Jo Evans: Thoughts on team entering trip to Iowa State

Notes from Jo Evans interview

* Playing three games in a 24-hour span is tricky when you only have one clear ace and you’re trying to find your number two pitcher. Mel Dumezich will pitch the first game of the doubleheader on Saturday and then she’ll go from there on deciding who will pitch game two. She clearly likes the single game per day format much better, but with the Easter holiday they are trying to get everyone back a day early.

* Playing in tournaments at the beginning of the year prepares the teams for weekends like the one coming up where the team will play multiple games in a short amount of time. It’s nothing they haven’t done before and is something they are used to, but they certainly don’t prefer it. It’s important that the kids keep their focus and she talked to them yesterday about how critical this series is. Anytime you are trying to win a conference championship, you have to take care of beating the lower echelon teams like Iowa State, Kansas and Texas Tech.

* She told the team that they need to imagine that they are headed to Norman, Oklahoma to take on a top-10 Oklahoma team because this series is every bit as important as that series will be. The team knows they will have tough games against the better teams, which makes them easy to get up for. The team will do a really good job of getting up for the Iowa State series this weekend because the Cyclones always play A&M tough and hard. They are a team that you could run-rule in the first game of a doubleheader, but then will come back and beat you 2-1 in the second game. A&M respects that program and that coaching staff and she fully expects the team will be ready to play.

* The team is playing really well right now, however she was disappointed with the Saturday loss against Oklahoma State. The team didn’t hit well and didn’t have a good approach at the plate. She was happy with the way the team came back the next day and took care of business to win the series 2-1. Mel Dumezich is pitching great, the hitters are getting good looks and the team has been solid defensively.

* Natalie Villarreal came out in the first game of the Oklahoma State series and hit 3-for-4. She’s looking really good and it’s nice that she has been able to come back into her own on the defensive side of things as well. She had to deal with a torn labrum in her shoulder and was concerned with the possibility of not being able to throw runners out, but now she realizes that she still can which has relaxed her and let her slip back into her game.

* To Dumezich’s credit, she threw the ball really well for about five innings in the loss against Oklahoma State over the weekend. The hitters didn’t help her out at all that day and the longer they allowed the Cowgirls to hang around and see Dumezich’s pitches, the better looks they started to get. If the offense can score early and take some pressure off of her, it will really help the team in the second game of these series. Game two’s have been a little tricky because the team has lost both of them so far, but in this case, it wasn’t Dumezich’s fault because the hitters didn’t take care of business.

* Senior Lindsey Sisk is so talented and has all the tools to be a great pitcher, but sometimes doubt can creep into her mind and take over her game. She has tried talking to Sisk about trying to get those thoughts out of her head just as quickly as they came in. She just needs to focus on what she is good at and she will be alright. She used her on the last day of the OSU series and she struggled to get out of the first inning of the game. However, she did get to redeem herself by going to the plate and getting a couple of hits including a big double to lead off the second inning. Yesterday the team scrimmaged and Sisk pitched all seven innings for one of the teams which should help her a lot.