The RoundHouse | 5/6/2019 11:24:00 AM

 
The concepts of "momentum" and "setting the tone" are difficult to quantify and might not mean much when applied to a single-elimination softball tournament.
 
Wichita State will not listen to that reasoning. The Shockers own good reasons for believing they can win the American Athletic Conference Championship this week in Houston. If momentum is real, the Shockers are all in after their performance in the final two weekend series.
 
"I believe they exist," centerfielder Wylie Glover said. "We know how to do it and we know we can win."
 
Wichita State (31-24) is the fourth seed and plays fifth-seeded UCF (34-20) on Thursday (12:30 p.m.) at Houston's Cougar Softball Stadium. The winner takes on either top-seeded USF (39-17) or eighth-seeded Memphis (22-32) on Friday (1 p.m.) in a semifinal.
 
"I keep telling them that I don't think teams want to play us," coach Kristi Bredbenner said. "I think we're peaking at the right time. I look at it as an opportunity to start plucking people off."
 
The Shockers won last weekend's series against USF 2-1 after a 4-3 victory in eight innings on Friday and Saturday's 10-0 run-rule win. A 1-0 loss on Sunday didn't change their mood much. The previous weekend, the Shockers defeated second-seeded Tulsa 4-0 before losing 4-3 and 3-1 on the road. 
 
Wichita State outscored the conference's top two teams 22-11 in those six games. On Friday, they battered the American's top pitcher (USF's Georgina Corrick) for 10 hits, two of them home runs. Wichita State's Erin McDonald threw 15 innings against the Bulls in the series and allowed one run and eight hits.
 
"We played great the past two weekends," third baseman Ryleigh Buck said. "Our pitchers are throwing great. Our defense, for the most part, has been amazing. We've been really competitive and really gritty."
 
The Shockers are bonding over injury adversity that robbed them of three starters. They had to reset their pitching plans when they lost ace Bailey Lange in February to a leg injury. Last month, injuries sidelined outfielder Asea Webber and second baseman Kaylee Huecker. 
 
Those losses required shuffling positions and the past two weeks show a team settling in to all those adjustments. Freshman Lauren Mills homered to win Friday's game and homered again in Saturday's run-rule win, her second and third home runs this season. 
 
"It's been that building period where everybody is settled in and we all grab hands and we're ready to go," first baseman Neleigh Herring said. 
 
McDonald's progress – a 1.25 earned run average in her last eight appearances over 36 1/3 innings – and a strong defense give the Shockers hope they can stay in any game by not giving away cheap runs. 
 
They rank 10^thnationally with a .976 fielding percentage. Against USF, they showed off that defense with diving catches and solid, sometimes spectacular, infield defense. Buck and shortstop Laurie Derrico provided the highlights by ranging to make plays and throwing from their knees. Left fielder Bailee Nickerson threw out a runner at the plate on Saturday to keep the game tied.
 
"That's our base," Herring said. "Whether hitting's there or pitching's there, we know that's our solid thing we can count on." 
 
The Shockers need to win three games in Houston to return to the NCAA Tournament. They lost five one-run games in AAC play to spoil their at-large resume.  This week gives them a chance to reset their season again.
 
"We've said all year that you've just got to play good in May, and I think we're showing that," Buck said. "We may be the underdogs and we may have lost a lot of people due to injury, but we're out there giving it everything we've got." 
 
Paul Suellentrop covers Wichita State Athletics and the American Athletic Conference for university Strategic Communications. Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.