Cardinal Stritch's start to the 2011 softball season looks nothing like that of a year ago, and second-year coach Don Zbierajewski is glad for that.

The Cardinals, who have had 10 games either rescheduled or canceled due to the weather, are off to a 6-2 start this season, including 2-0 in the Toledo Area Athletic Conference.

“Any coach will tell you there's always room for improvement,” Zbierajewski said. “I like what they're doing so far. I like their attitudes and they're doing a good job. The fact that they're having a little bit more success starting out this year opposed to last year – we started out 0-5 or something like that – has helped build confidence. I think that's a major reason for our improvement.”

Heading into Saturday's home doubleheader against Lakota, the Cardinals are batting .447 as a team and getting

Cardinal Stritch seniors (not in order) Alyssa Wlodarz, Natalie Hanudel, Amanda Sinay, Rachel Esposito, Sara Inderrieden, Hayley Ruskinoff, Marissa Zaborski. (Photo courtesy of Cardinal Stritch High School)

solid pitching and defense.

“I hope we can continue it all year,” Zbierajewski said of his team's offense. “As we go along in the season, everybody's pitching is going to get more comfortable, so it's going to get tougher. The change to 43 feet for the pitcher's rubber is helping the overall hitting in the area. Being able to see the ball a split second longer helps at least make contact.”

Stritch's TAAC wins have come against Emmanuel Christian and Danbury, and it also has victories over Waite (twice), Oak Harbor and Liberty Center. The Cardinals lost to Maumee and Delta.

“Mostly it's been our timely hitting,” Zbierajewski said. “In the Liberty Center game, we won 4-2 but we bunched all four runs in one inning. Our pitching's been really good all year, for the most part. We've had a couple of games where there's been a little slip in one inning. Other than that, it's been really solid.”

The Cardinals' top pitcher, junior Katie Turski, is hitting .591 and is 5-2 on the mound with a 3.68 ERA. She has struck out 42 batters and walked 14 in 38 innings.

“Last year Katie had a little bit of a health issue and she got sick, and that took a lot of her strength away,” Zbierajewski said. “She's been pretty strong this year. Her first two years she was just going up there trying to blow it by everybody. Now she's being a little more particular, and Alex is helping her out there, too, giving her different targets to shoot at.”

Alex Veres, Stritch's sophomore catcher, has been reliable behind the plate and red-hot in the batter's box. She is hitting .615 and leads the team with 20 RBI. Zbierajewski also gives her free reign to call pitches for the Cardinals' staff.

“I think she really enjoys that,” Zbierajewski said. “She's hitting in the third spot and she's getting a lot of RBI opportunities. After we've gone through the order once or twice, with the way my eight and nine hitters, Rachel Esposito and Missy Cobb, are hitting, once we get back to the top of the order we're seeing a lot of traffic on the bases.”

Esposito, a senior left fielder, is hitting .500 while Cobb, a junior shortstop, is hitting .429. Leadoff hitter Amanda Sinay, a senior center fielder, is hitting a blistering .656 (21-for-32) and has nine steals in nine attempts.

“She's a slapper and she has outstanding speed,” Zbierajewski said. “If she can get the ball on the ground, there's a really good chance she's going to beat it out. I would say 75-80 percent of her hits are infield hits.”

Stritch's No. 2 batter, junior second baseman Emily Lorton, is batting .409; senior right fielder/shortstop Alyssa Wlodarz is making the most of her limited plate appearances, going 5-for-8 (.625) early on.

“Last year she had a really rough time at the plate,” Zbierajewski said. “It looks like she's turning that around this year. She struck out a lot last year and now she's getting the bat on the ball.”

Senior pitcher/third baseman Sara Inderrieden, who is 1-0 with a 2.10 ERA, is hitting .333.

Zbierajewski said the Cardinals' defensive play may hold the key to the team's success the rest of the season.

“We are so much improved over last year,” he said. “We are catching the ball a lot better than we did last year. Last year we would give teams five or six outs per inning and now our errors have been way down. We made three errors against Maumee and that's been our worst defensive game this year.”

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