After pandemic cancelled 2020 season, #23 Gophers softball looks to make up for missed time
The Minnesota Gophers softball team is starting to heat up. (DenHartog Natalie/University of Minnesota)
(FOX 9) - Though the stands at Jane Sage Cowles Stadium are mostly empty, plenty of success is coming the way of the Gophers softball team in 2021.
Minnesota is ranked 23rd in the latest USA Today poll with a 25-7 overall record. The Gophers have been dominant, winning every four-game series they’ve played this season.
A team ready to make a late-season run one step at a time.
"If you spend all of your time wondering ‘what if,’ chances are you’re not preparing for the game in front of you," first-year Gophers softball head coach Piper Ritter said. "Be where your feet are, right?"
Minnesota is playing a conference-only schedule, but that is not affecting this team’s confidence. They lead the Big Ten with 36 home runs, while their pitching ranks 15th in the country in total ERA.
Motivated by missing out on almost a full year of softball after the 2020 season was called off due to COVID-19.
"Just having last year taken away and having a bunch of super seniors, they’re not taking one thing for granted," Ritter said.
The Gophers boast a talented roster of experienced players in 2021, highlighted by the return of pitcher Amber Fiser.
"Every time they step on the field they’re ready to play," Ritter said of her experienced group.
Friday begins a series against Big Ten leading #19 Michigan with a chance for the Gophers to take over that top spot in the standings.
The series is a rematch of the 2019 conference title game, but the first time these two have faced off in a regular-season series since 2015.
"It makes it feel like what it should feel like, you’re playing for something at the end of the year," Ritter said of getting to face Michigan. "We love it."
This weekend is an opportunity to get much more than the lead in the conference. With the hope of getting some momentum leading into another potential run to the College World Series.
"It just takes a lot of experience and that’s the one thing this group has in going to the College World Series," Ritter said. "Knowing what it takes to get there, I’m looking forward to them continuing to do it."
The Gophers & Wolverines will meet at 7:00 p.m. on Friday at Jane Sage Cowles Stadium. All four games this weekend will be broadcast on Big Ten Network.