Last season, the Bruin softball team was young. The team had added eight freshmen and was looking at an extremely inexperienced lineup.
Though the Bruins did hit for a .307 average, they settled on scrapping for runs. Of the team’s 489 hits, 354 were singles. Only then-junior Amanda Kamekona hit more than 10 home runs for the season.
However, with the re-addition of Lisa Fernandez to the coaching staff, the No. 7 Bruins (29-8, 4-4 Pac-10) have discovered their power, resulting in 48 homers in 37 games, as compared to 36 in 60 games last year.
“That’s where you start,” coach Kelly Inouye-Perez said. “Lisa Fernandez has done a phenomenal job on the mechanics of hitting, and she’s been able to apply it to this talented group.”
As a player, Fernandez, who was inducted into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame in 2003, hit .510 during her senior Bruin campaign.
Fernandez worked with the Bruin softball players all offseason, and thus far the players have responded.
“We’ve done a better job of everyone being on the same page and having one main hitting philosophy by getting a lot of reps in,” junior catcher and outfielder Kaila Shull said. “We studied a lot of video and worked a lot more closely with the coaching staff.”
Shull has put a sophomore season filled with “personal issues” solidly behind her on the field by leading the team in both slugging percentage (.705) and runs batted in (47).
Meanwhile, sophomore outfielder Katie Schroeder feels that the return to basics of hitting has provided a solid foundation she has built upon this year.
Schroeder, who did not hit a homerun last season and had a .400 slugging percentage, has already gone yard nine times and boasts a .682 slugging average.
“I’ve worked hard with Lisa Fernandez on the fundamentals and lifted with more intensity in the offseason,” Schroeder said.
As much as the Bruins have improved in the home-run department, they won’t rely on it solely for offensive production.
“It’s part of the game that we’re hopeful for, but you can’t go in there swinging for home runs,” Inouye-Perez said. “It’s one of those things that the harder you try, the fewer results you are going to get.”
With imposing Pac-10 pitchers standing tall, the Bruins will rely on their ability to move people base-by-base and advance runners.
“We are always hopeful, and we are capable (of homers), but that is not always our plan to have 21 opportunities to swing for the fence,” Inouye-Perez said.
The Bruins scored 10 runs on just 11 hits Saturday.