There’s one problem now. The program’s No. 1 starting pitcher for the last three years is a thing of the past after graduating in May 2012, and there’s a major void to fill if the Phoenix is to succeed this season.
“Hopefully a year of experience seeing Erin in the bullpens and in live practice seeing what she did has helped lead our younger pitchers to know what they have to work at,” said Elon softball coach Kathy Bocock.
Erin’s sister Caitlin O’Shea, a sophomore pitcher on the team, said she and the rest of the pitching staff know what they have to do to replace Erin.
“This year, it’s going to take all of us stepping up,” Caitlin said. “We are coming to the reality that it’s going to take all of us to make it through this season and not just on Erin like last year.”
Erin worked for the No. 1 spot throughout her career at Elon, and that wasn’t off Bocock’s radar.
“Erin was our No. 1 and she proved it,” she said. “She was our go-to.”
This season, there isn’t necessarily a workhorse pitcher. Knowing she doesn’t have a first option starter like in years past, Bocock sees it as a mixed bag of fortunes.
“When you have an Erin O’Shea, you know that she’s going to come in and step up and do things for you and the defense behind them are very confident,” Bocock said. “But the young ladies that we have now and already have here, we feel real good about. They’re our future and we feel really good about them.”
This year’s staff knows there isn’t a No. 1 starter that will take the ball two-thirds of the time. Instead, there’s a dynamic among the pitchers and they know what they have to do this season.
“This is more of a group effort this year and we have to realize that to be successful,” said junior pitcher Karen Berna. “We all realize we have a big role to fill and we are a pretty small pitching staff right now, but we have a really good staff dynamic. Last year, we depended on Erin for a lot of things. This year, we’re a mixture of all of us.”
During the Red and Black Showcase hosted by the University of Georgia Feb. 8-9 in Athens, Ga., the Phoenix used four different pitchers through the four games. Sophomore Chelsea White started two of the four games while Berna and freshman Kayla Caruso got the other two starts. Caitlin O’Shea made one appearance out of the bullpen.
“We have two sophomores, one junior and a freshman, so we’re a young staff,” Bocock said. “Early in the season we’re trying to see who is going to produce in games and give them the opportunity to see live batters. They all bring different things to the table.”
While Erin had the responsibility of mixing it up game in and game out trying to throw opposing batters off, each of this year’s hurlers can focus on what they do best. This gives Bocock and her staff options out of the bullpen late in games.
“Some pitch the ball high so they get a lot of fly balls, and some pitch the ball down where they can get a lot of ground balls,” Bocock said. “They all are just different style pitchers and we’re trying to get them to work together as a unit.”
With options in style, Bocock now has the ability to turn the game over to another pitcher that best suits the situation, even if it’s just for a situational matchup late in a game.
“Softball is changing,” Bocock said. “It might be that someone comes in and gets a batter out in a certain situation, then someone else comes in.”
Either way, the Elon pitching staff looks a lot different this season. Come May, there isn’t going to be a pitcher challenging the single season starts record or the innings pitched record. It’s going to be a cohesive unit that hopefully stays healthy throughout the season to make a run at the postseason, a place it hasn’t been since 2010.
“We’re all pretty confident in each other,” Caitlin said. “I feel more relaxed knowing that there are four of us, that we’re not just coming in as closers for Erin. Now, we’re all four working toward the same goal, but with really different styles. There are a lot of games, and we can use this dynamic to our advantage.”