Idaho State Bengal softball player Amanda Fitzsimmons just wants to have fun playing softball this year. It’s a common goal for any athlete, but Fitzsimmons has a specific definition of how to have fun.
“My main goal this season is to just have fun, and my definition of fun is to win and to put in the work it takes to win. That’s what fun is,” said Fitzsimmons.
If the non-conference schedule is any indication, Fitzsimmons will be having lots of fun this year.
Each year, collegiate teams have to regroup, rearrange their new pieces and set forth a game plan that works for a completely new set of players. Credit needs to be given to ISU softball coach Julie Wright for getting all the pieces together so well.
“Getting all the particular pieces and putting it together is happening a lot quicker than expected,” said Fitzsimmons. “We are building on what we did last year instead of having to start over.”
The reason why the Bengals have been able to fit all the pieces together so well and so quickly is due to a commitment in the offseason.
There is the old adage in sports that championships are made in the offseason, and this year the Bengals put in the work that is typical of championship ball clubs.
“We stuck to our conditioning program,” said Fitzsimmons. “Instead of having to play catch up and spend the first 30 minutes conditioning we were able to get right on the field and work on our game.”
The hard work has paid off. The Bengal softball team got off to a fast non-conference start. The team won four out of the first ten games in an incredibly tough non-conference season. A 4-6 record against the quality of teams that the Bengals were facing is something Fitzsimmons and the rest of the team can be proud of accomplishing.
“They are really good teams that we are playing against such as Tennessee, Oregon State and Utah. The way that we are playing against them I feel like a conference championship is very reachable,” said Fitzsimmons.
“I expected a lot of this team but I didn’t think we expected to play this well in the non-conference games. We’ve been in a lot of games that last year we wouldn’t have been in,” said Fitzsimmons.
The Bengals are currently 8-13. They are more than halfway to reaching their win total from last year (12-36) and conference play hasn’t even started. The difference between conference and non-conference play is astronomical. Last year in non-conference play the Bengals went 2-20 compared to going 10-18 in conference play – that’s an increase of around twenty-six percent. The Bengals should knock last year’s win total out of the park.
Pun intended.
Even if they lose all their remaining non-conference games and finish at 8-19 they would finish with a 0.296 winning percentage which is an increase of over twenty from the previous year.
Assuming they increase their win percentage by the same percent of total games played in conference play, we should expect them to win 57 percent of their conference games. They play 23 conference games this year, if they win 57 percent of their games they should finish with a 13-10 conference mark, which would be the team’s first winning record since 1983, which was the last year ISU had a softball program before bringing it back in 2007.
Wright said she wanted to finish the non-conference season at .500. It’s not likely since there are only six games left in this brutal non-conference season, and the Bengals would have to win the rest of the games to reach Wright’s expectations.
But the season is not going to be made or broken based on their non-conference season. Wright also has stated that they just want to make the conference tournament, which will be largely by their play in the conference season. If the Bengals reach the previously mentioned projected win total (13) they should be able to make it into the tournament.
When asked what the Bengals needed to be successful, Fitzsimmons said, “We just need to work on each pitch. It’s something that we can control, so that’s what we need to focus on.”
The scary thing for Big Sky opponents is that the Bengals haven’t even reached their full potential. This team has so many weapons, a bevy of hitters, that will keep opposing outfielders busy watching balls knocked out of the park.
Last year Fitzsimmons had to play extremely well for the Bengals to even have a chance, but this year she can rely on others to step up when she has one of those rare off nights.
The Big Sky is taking notice of how many weapons this team has on its roster. The past three weeks, a Bengal softball player has been awarded as Big Sky Player of the Week. It’s important to note that the award is not exclusive to just softball players, meaning three different Bengal softball players had better performances than any basketball, golf, tennis or track and field athletes.
Sophomore catcher Vicky Galasso won the award on Feb. 12. Before Galasso there has never been a softball player to win the award. She leads the team with seven home runs.
Fitzsimmons won it the next week and has continued to make a name for herself this season and in the record books.
On Feb. 16 in a win over Pac-12 opponent University of Utah, Fitzsimmons set the ISU single-game home run record with three home runs.
Fitzsimmons, not satisfied with only setting one ISU record this year, set the Idaho State career RBI record, tied the home run and doubles record and pitched the Bengals to a 6-4 win over Boise State on March 16. Fitzsimmons now has 19 home runs in her career, tying her with Heather Dixon. Fitzsimmons has 73 RBI in her career, breaking Jessica Baca’s record of 69.
Freshman outfielder Katelyn Marquez made it a trifecta on Feb. 26 when she was named the Big Sky Player of the Week, becoming the third Idaho State player in the last three weeks to be given the honor.
It is for this reason that Fitzsimmons feels confidence in her team’s ability to pick up the slack when she isn’t playing her A-game.
“If someone has an off night, we still have confidence that we can still win a game,” said Fitzsimmons. “I would much rather have a bad game and our team win, than play well and lose.”
Needless to say there is a justified optimism as the conference season gets under way. The Bengals are positioning themselves to be one of the most feared teams in the Big Sky Conference.
“We just need to play Bengal softball, not worry about what the other team is doing and just do what we do,” said Fitzsimmons. “And Bengal softball consists of getting on, getting over and getting in, and then playing spectacular defense.”
