The RoundHouse | 5/4/2019 6:38:00 PM

 
Erin McDonald needed a place to live and Bailey Lange needed a roommate and what seemed like a simple housing arrangement became a little more than that for Wichita State softball.
 
They're both pitchers and both transferred to Wichita State. Lange started the season as Wichita State's top pitcher, following a junior season in which she earned All-American Athletic Conference honors and won two NCAA regional games against Oklahoma State. 
 
McDonald started the season as an unknown after throwing 19 innings in six games as a freshman at Louisiana Tech.
 
Everything changed when Lange suffered a season-ending leg injury in the eighth game of the season – against Louisiana Tech – sliding into second base. The Shockers needed a top pitcher and over the past two weeks McDonald grabbed that role.
 
With counsel from her roommate.
 
"She helped me a lot mentally – telling me that someone's got to step up and someone's got to hold this team for the seniors," McDonald said. "She works through my mental stuff a lot."
 
McDonald and Lange put their work on display in Saturday's 10-0 run-rule win over USF in five innings at Wilkins Stadium. McDonald allowed one hit, struck out four and didn't walk a batter to improve to 14-11 and lower her earned run average to 3.06. After two loud outs to start the game, USF made little solid contact, often swinging under her rise ball, and its one hit bounced off McDonald's glove and settled in the infield.
 
The Shockers (31-23, 12-8 American Athletic Conference) won the series and kept first-place USF (38-17, 16-4) from clinching the conference title. The teams meet at 11 a.m. on Sunday with the Bulls still in need of one win to claim the outright title. Wichita State remains in fourth place with Houston (37-16, 12-7) in third entering Sunday's final day of the regular season. 
 
Wichita State knows it needs to win the conference tournament, which starts Thursday in Houston, to return to NCAA play. McDonald's performances over the past 10 days are a leading reason why the Shockers should feel like they are capable of beating anyone in Houston.
 
Last weekend, she started the series against second-place Tulsa with a one-hitter in a 4-0 victory. Tulsa dented her for three runs in six innings in the series finale, a 3-1 loss for WSU. On Friday against USF, she backed Caitlin Bingham's solid five innings with three shutout innings in a 4-3 win in eight innings to open the series. 
 
McDonald compiled a 1.24 ERA in her last 29 1/3 innings over six appearances, highlighted by two superb performances against the American's top two teams.
 
"She's throwing to both sides of the plate now," Wichita State pitching coach Ryne Stefankiewicz said. "Early on in the year, she struggled throwing to one side of the plate. When you command both sides of the plate, you can get people out."
 
McDonald, from Norman, Okla., credits increased confidence in her rise ball with helping her make a jump. Until this season, she threw it well out of the strike zone as a waste pitch. With help from Stefankiewicz, her rise ball is now a pitch hitters must deal with.
 
"When I can throw it through the zone – versus way out of the zone, which is where I started – I get a lot more swings and misses and popups," she said. "It's more mental than anything, just knowing that I can throw it through the zone and they're going to pop it up or swing and miss."
 
McDonald learned a lot of this – throwing to the outside part of the plate, throwing a rise ball that tempts hitters, putting her change-up down in the zone – under the pressure of filling in for Lange. 
 
"Being in games has taught her how to pitch," Stefankiewicz said. "If she can get to 0-1, she's set. She's been working ahead in the count and teams aren't hitting her real hard now."
 
McDonald learned on the job this season for the Shockers. It helped to have Lange, who was out of town for personal reasons Saturday, available for advice.
 
"She's very good about being 'OK, Erin you have to hold yourself accountable,'" McDonald said. "If you miss your spot and the hitter hits it over the fence, you have to say 'That's not happening again.' She knows if I'm having a bad day and I'm hard on myself and down, she'll say 'Erin, you've got this, you've got to go out there and do it.'"
 
Paul Suellentrop covers Wichita State Athletics and the American Athletic Conference for university Strategic Communications. Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.