Sophomore Caitlin Benyi does not seem like the prototypical home
run hitter. But Benyi, the Bruins’ thin leadoff hitter,
homered in all three games this past weekend. Her recent power
surge has raised her season home run total to 15, the highest in
the Pac-10. In a sport where home run hitters are usually the
largest players on the team, Benyi does not look like a natural
power hitter. “It’s not about weighing 250
pounds,” coach Sue Enquist said. “If you’ve got
the levers and you’ve got the timing, you’re going to
do a lot of great things.” She does, however, have a short,
compact swing and a good feel for the strike zone, which has
allowed her to generate home run power. “Mechanically
she’s so sound in her swing,” Enquist said. “She
doesn’t make a lot of bad choices at the plate. It’s a
great combo.” But as a leadoff hitter, Benyi is not looking
to hit the ball over the fence every time at bat. “As a
leadoff hitter you always want to just swing for a base hit,”
Benyi said. But when you are on fire, sometimes you look to get a
base hit, and the ball goes over the fence. That’s how Benyi
hit her biggest home run of the year, a shot to straight-away
center field in the 10th inning to give the Bruins a 3-2 win over
No. 15 Oregon. As a leadoff hitter with power, Benyi presents a
unique problem for opposing pitchers. With one swing of the bat,
she can give the Bruins a quick lead to start the game. She hit a
leadoff home run against No. 14 Oregon State on Friday and did the
same to No. 5 Washington a week ago. But if teams decide to pitch
around Benyi ““ as Oregon did twice this weekend ““ they
are putting the leadoff hitter on first, with a dangerous Bruin
lineup to follow. Despite being the Bruins’ offensive
catalyst in Pac-10 play, and the conference’s home run
leader, Benyi is not among the 25 finalists for the national player
of the year award.
TURNER PITCHES: Sophomore Michelle Turner
pitched in Sunday’s game against Oregon for the first time in
nearly two months. After injuring her shoulder during the playoffs
last season, Turner only made one start during the preseason. She
gave up two runs in 4-2/3 innings against Penn State on Feb. 21.
She came into a tied game in the beginning of the sixth inning,
replacing freshman Lisa Dodd. Before Sunday’s game, Enquist
decided she would put Turner in because of her good play in
practice. “When she’s shutting out our batters, we know
it’s time for her to get the nod,” Enquist said.
MOVING UP: With two wins this weekend, the
Bruins have moved out of the basement in the Pac-10 standings. At
2-5 in conference, the Bruins are now sixth out of the eight Pac-10
teams. Seven Pac-10 teams are ranked in the top 15 nationally,
which makes every series difficult, even last weekend’s, in
which the team played the Oregon schools. “That’s two
(wins) out of three, and that’s pretty darn good,”
Enquist said of her team’s performance over the weekend. But
the two wins could not keep the Bruins from losing ground in the
race for the conference title. Top-ranked Arizona ““
UCLA’s main rival ““ won three games to move up to 7-0
in conference play. The Wildcats have an overall record of 43-1,
their best start ever.