A week ago, Missouri softball coach Ehren Earleywine expected senior pitcher Chelsea Thomas to pitch every Southeastern Conference game. And Thomas said that was fine with her.
The thought of starting another pitcher had never crossed Earleywine’s mind until Thomas spoke up before Sunday’s loss to Arkansas.
“It was before the game, team huddle,” Earleywine said. “I said, ‘Hey, let’s talk about this. I’m trying to figure out a scenario where we could get the very best out of you today. What does that look like? Is that two innings, is that four, is that seven?’ She said, ‘I think I can go five.’ Third inning, she comes to me and says she’s done. I think the pitch count got high.”
With that exchange, Earleywine said he realized that he couldn’t trot Thomas out to the circle for every game. He said now it’s likely that senior Nicole Hudson will start on Saturdays, just a week after saying she would only pitch in lopsided games.
Hudson gave up six runs in 4 1/3 innings pitched in Missouri’s three-game series against Arkansas, bumping her ERA up to 7.88 in SEC play.
“She feels bad, I feel bad for her,” Earleywine said. “It’s not what I recruited her for and it’s not in her skill set to be a No. 2 in the SEC. It’s not her fault, it’s just unfortunate circumstances.”
Part of Hudson’s struggles this past weekend stemmed from her 100 pitches thrown in Sunday’s eight-inning marathon. Up until this weekend, Hudson’s conference expectations generally ended after an inning or so.
Earleywine said that by lengthening her bullpen sessions, he wants to get Hudson’s endurance to the point where she can confidently throw seven innings.
“I think right now, we typically have her throw 50 or 60 pitches, thinking she’s going to throw two or three innings, that’s what our thought process was,” Earleywine said. “Sunday she threw 100 pitches. Poor thing, you know, here I’m warming up, I’m practicing for 50, and then throw 100.”
Earleywine said Hudson used to throw seven innings at a time en route to a state championship at Webb City High School, but an injury restricted her pitching aspirations.
“She had this little deal in her forearm that is the equivalent to a shin splint in your arm,” Earleywine said. “I don’t really get it, so that’s the way to describe it. She doesn’t have that now, there’s no signs of that, but for her there is a little bit of a risk of arm fatigue.”
Thomas said Tuesday that she hadn’t talked to Earleywine about her pitching schedule yet.
“I’m sure I’ll start on Friday but I have no idea what the rest of the weekend will bring,” Thomas said.
Earleywine said he’s thought of many different strategies but that Thomas’ health will determine who pitches when.
“So much of it is just going, ‘Hey Chels, how you feel?’” he said.
When talking about her role as reliever a week ago, Hudson said she would do whatever Earleywine thought was best. With such a fluid pitching order, that attitude might be appreciated.
