By Nate Bloomquist

Apache Editor

The Chicago Cubs’ brightest star is Kerry Wood. The IVCC softball team’s biggest surprise this season is also a pitcher ¾ Gabe Wood.

The freshman from Bloomington has thrown three straight complete game shut outs and has two no-hitters this season. She has an ERA of 0.33 and has truck out 122 batter in 63 innings of work, putting her amongst the nation’s leaders in NJCAA Division II..

"She just has a tremendous rise ball," said IVCC softball coach Cory Tomasson. "It really keeps batters off balance and they don’t know when to expect it. It’s really overpowering and her strikeout ratio shows that."

Unlike the Cubs, Wood’s teammates are putting together a winning season. The Lady Apaches were 14-5 with a 5-3 mark in the Arrowhead Conference as of Monday. IVCC is in second place in its league.

And while it’s quite a turnaround from last year’s 4-22 season, Tomasson said his team could have an even better standing this season.

"There’s been three games that we should’ve won this year," he said. "But I’m really pleased with how we’re playing. They’re playing as a team. They’ve all become friends and that’s really been helpful."

In fact, Tomasson says they’ve made his job easier.

"I really haven’t had to do much motivating," he said. "This has been the easiest coaching I’ve had. They’re all smart and had a desire to play and win."

Unlike the Cubs, Tomasson doesn’t have a 25-man roster at his disposal to mix things up in doubleheaders. Instead, a dozen is enough for the Lady Apaches.

He says the dozen he has will be able to get the job done this year.

The Lady Apaches aren’t one dimensional. They’ve been thriving at the plate too.

As a team, the squad is hitting .295. Wood breaks the stereotype of pitchers with weak bats. She’s also leading the team in hitting with a .593 batting average and four home runs. Casey Novotney, an Streator graduate is also a team leader at the plate. Novotney, who was named to the all-conference squad last year, is batting .373 with 12 extra base hits. Marie Gubbels, an infielder from Streator is batting .357.

Thus far, Tomasson said things have been going smoothly for his team, however there’s still room for improvement.

He said the squad needs to continue working on making fundamental plays. The squad has also struggled at the plate when there is a pitcher without as much speed in her fastball on the mound.

"We’ve had a couple of situations where we’ve made errors on plays that we’ve practiced," said Tomasson. "They haven’t really hurt us all that much, but we can’t be making mistakes like that in close games."

Not to mention the post season. Tomasson has high hopes for his squad as it heads into the second half of the conference season. He feels confident about his team’s ability to advance in the playoffs.