For a few weeks, it seemed like Alex Stewart couldn’t catch a break. The senior was throwing too many illegal pitches and seemed to be underperforming as the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns got towards the halfway mark of the season.
Even head coach Michael Lotief acknowledged that she had been going through some things during her slump. However, her game has stepped up in a big way since her rough outing against Baylor on March 9th.
“That’s our old Alex.” Lotief said after Stewart got her seventh straight win on Sunday against Troy. “We’ve been waiting for her and there’s she is. She’s going to be here and she’s going to be strong.”
Her last two appearances have seen her only allow one hit. During the win streak, she’s really shown that ability to get things done on the diamond, allowing only six earned runs. According to Lotief, she’s sensing the end of the season.
“She’s not putting any pressure on herself and continuing to work really hard. I think she smells the end of the season and knows what’s at stake.” Lotief said, “She’s been there before and knows what it’s about. Her body and mind says ‘Let’s do this.'”
In the world of softball, the role of pitcher is a mental struggle. When you’re in a funk, it can be difficult to try and stop the proverbial bleeding. That funk Stewart had been in was in large part due to illegal pitches.
Those are a virtual kiss of death as it could wind up getting runners into scoring position and if a team can prey off of those mistakes, they will usually win games. In a conference like the Sun Belt, that’s horrible for a team’s RPI if they’re losing games that they should be winning easily.
Those issues seem to have been fixed. “It took a while to pick back up my mentality.” Stewart said on Sunday, “I made some adjustments with my illegal pitches. I have a better plan now for what pitches I need to throw to be effective.”
As her collegiate career begins to wrap up, this turnaround is at the right time as the Ragin Cajuns are making that yearly push towards Oklahoma City and the Women’s College World Series.
-Clint Domingue