After a big win over No. 16 California on Friday, James Madison was at risk of squandering the goodwill as inning after inning passed scoreless in the nightcap against UTEP.
At least until James Madison's Odicci Alexander delivered an RBI hit in the bottom of the fifth inning. The Dukes added five more runs by the time it was over, capped by an Alexander home run the next inning, but the first run was enough. Alexander made sure it was enough. She pitched a three-hit shutout, even recording the final two outs by strikeout.
The doubleheader sweep was part of a 5-0 record for James Madison at a tournament in Hawaii this past weekend. An 11-game winning streak suggests that despite the Dukes losing All-American Megan Good to a season-ending injury before opening day, not to mention former coach Mickey Dean moving to Auburn, Harrisonburg, Virginia, remains very much on the softball map.
Making that success a tradition has a lot to do with Alexander and a lot to do with going against another trend of high-profile pitchers putting down their bats.
After a run of two-way talents like Florida's Lauren Haeger, UCLA's Megan Langenfeld, Washington's Danielle Lawrie, Oklahoma's Keilani Ricketts and Alabama's Jackie Traina, the pendulum seemed to swing the other direction the past few seasons. Florida's Kelly Barnhill never hits. Oklahoma's Paige Parker hasn't hit with any regularity since her freshman season. Oregon's trio of Maggie Balint, Miranda Elish and Megan Kleist, Washington's Taran Alvelo, Alabama's Alexis Osorio and Arizona's Taylor McQuillin all swing the bat rarely if ever.
At least near the top of the polls, UCLA's Rachel Garcia leads a very small band of pitchers whose teams also count on them for consistent production at the plate.
One of three finalists for USA Softball Player of the Year a season ago, Good would again have been at the forefront alongside Garcia. But in Good's place, like Jailyn Ford before both of them at James Madison, Alexander is providing twice the value for one scholarship.
The sophomore from Boydton, Virginia, allowed just eight hits and one earned run in 22 innings in the circle in Hawaii, beating UTEP, Longwood and Hawaii with complete games. She left the pitching to freshman Payton Buresch in the win against Cal but provided the RBI that tied that game in the sixth inning. She drove in seven runs in James Madison's five wins. For the season, she leads the team in slugging percentage and RBIs and is 8-1 with two saves, a 1.39 ERA and 72 strikeouts as a pitcher.
The history of pitchers hitting has thus far been more cyclical than evolutionary, with ebbs and flows of two-way stars like we've seen over the past decade. But whatever the reason for the current scarcity elsewhere, at least one stretch of the Shenandoah Valley remains verdant.