The RoundHouse | 2/8/2022 3:04:00 PM

 
Neither Caitlin Bingham nor Erin McDonald are "old" by any traditional use of the word.
 
They are in college, which means there are times they look around the Wichita State softball locker room and feel, well, old.
 
"I was just thinking about TikTok," McDonald. "I didn't even know what TikTok was last year, and everyone is on their phones looking at TikTok. We're out of the loop on a lot of things."
 
They are close to adulting. Some of their teammates were 14 when Bingham and McDonald started their college careers in 2017.
 
"The trends – we're just like 'What are you doing,' 'What are you wearing?' 'What's going on,'" Bingham said. "It's very different."
 
Bingham and McDonald, both senior pitchers for the Shockers, are in a different spot this season. The Shockers open their schedule vs. Dayton and Sam Houston State on Friday in the Bearkat Classic in Huntsville, Texas.
 
After four seasons leaning on Bailey Lange as the team's top starter, it is up to Bingham and McDonald to use their voices, help their new teammates and set the standard in practices and games. Lange led the Shockers in innings in 2018, 2020 and 2021. She earned All-American Athletic Conference honors in 2018, had her 2019 cut short by injury and landed on the NFCA All-Central Region third team in 2021.
 
"I have never claimed to be a leader in my life, until this year," McDonald said. "I felt like people needed to step up and lead."
 
Bingham, from Tecumseh, Okla., and McDonald, from Norman, Okla., can call on plenty of their own innings for experience. Bingham owns 63 starts; McDonald 41 in her three seasons at Wichita State.
 
In 2019, with Lange out most of the season, McDonald went 15-12 with a 2.90 earned run average. She earned a spot on the all-conference second team. Bingham threw eight complete games and went 13-9 with a 2.60 ERA. Last season, Bingham threw a two-hit shutout against No. 23 UCF and held the Knights scoreless for 10 1/3 innings the next day in a game that ended in a tie.
 
"We have the opportunity to be more of the style we want to bring to the bullpen," Bingham said. "Be the ones that everybody turns to and be the ones that coaches go to. To raise these little children as they come along and be the pitchers we know they can be, form them into the players that Wichita State produces."
 
Bingham and McDonald watched previous Shockers such as Ryleigh Buck, Madison Perrigan and Lange.
 
"They knew when to step up and say things, so I followed their role," McDonald said.
 
In the fall and practices leading up to this week, that means working with redshirt freshman Jordyn Pipkin and freshmen Alison Cooper, a lefty, and Kenzie Schopfer. They talked to them about nerves before fall scrimmages. They remind them to lock in on every pitch, because there are few weak spots in a college lineup. They share their experiences and show them how to take a breath, stay calm, and throw the right pitch to the right spot.
 
"It's getting them in the right mindset to face one of the best hitting teams in the country – ourselves – in a scrimmage," Bingham said. "That's a big thing. They were nervous. I remember my first time out there. I threw the ball to the backstop."
 
Without Lange, the plan for Shocker pitching will look different. Everybody is a starter and everybody is a reliever, especially in the season's early weeks.
 
"Everyone is going to have to work together," pitching coach Presley Bell said. "Everyone has a role, and if you're playing your role to the best of your ability, the whole team is going to have success."
 
Bingham, 10-3 with a 3.00 ERA last season, is a groundball pitcher who relies on her changeup. McDonald, 9-1 with a 4.79 ERA last season, spent the summer working on her changeup while playing in Florida.
 
"Her changeup has been one of her most effective pitches these last couple weeks," Bell said. "Erin is a little more of a strikeout pitcher. We're looking for her to hit her spots and let her working ahead in the count let us use her riseball and changeup."
 
McDonald used the summer to throw changeups in a low-stress environment with the Manatee Squeeze in the Florida Gulf Coast League. Her goal was to throw that pitch without worrying much about if hitters hit. In previous years, she survived on her riseball. Now she wants to add more variety to her pitches.
 
"I used mostly that and the riseball (in Florida) and I feel like it has come a long way," she said. "I can throw it for a strike. I can throw it in the dirt. Wherever it needs to go."
 
Paul Suellentrop covers Wichita State Athletics and the American Athletic Conference for university Strategic Communications. Story suggestion? Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.