It’s been good times for the University of Tampa athletic program recently. The softball team struggled early, starting off 1-6 and falling to 5-10 by the end of February. Only one of those wins was over a ranked team, although it was the second-ranked Florida Southern Mocs.
From there, the Lady Spartans went on a tear, sweeping three from the 16th-ranked Barry Buccaneers to start a 10 game winning streak. As of press time, Tampa had won 12 of their last 14.
Key to this streak has been the performance of the pitchers. Five of the wins in the 10-game stretch were shutouts. All three pitchers, Krystal Cooks, Heather VanLandingham and Devlin Dougherty, have ERAs below 2.00.
It really looked like this was going to be another disappointing season for the softball team. Last year’s team was 19-31 and featured one starting pitcher. Dougherty was simply overwhelmed with the task of pitching every day, sometimes twice in a day.
Head coach Leslie Kanter has done a great job developing new talent in VanLandingham. More importantly, Kanter has managed the talent of the team, developing a lineup that can score runs and shut down their opponents.
The Lady Spartans have an important stretch of games in front of them. Only SSC games remain, including home series against Nova Southeastern at the end of March and another series against Florida Tech at home in the middle of April. The team is currently 4-2 in conference and needs a strong showing to get into the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2004. It’s not out of the question and certainly well within reach for this team.
Also playing well this spring is the tennis team. They are currently 11-6 with four regular season matches to go. Tennis is one of those sports on campus that really slips under the radar. That’s not saying much, however, as so many athletes here are unknown and underappreciated.
It’s good tennis, contrary to what many around here may think. It’s entertaining and the ladies really put a good effort into the matches.
It’s no surprise that the baseball team is contributing to the success of the spring sports season. No one expects any less from the defending champs.