Wiffle Ball play saves WSU’s softball season

Horizon League softball tournament

When: Today, May 13, through Saturday

Where: Cleveland (hosted by No. 1 seed Cleveland State)

Participants:

All-Horizon League

Wright State tied Cleveland State for a league-high three players on the All-Horizon League first team, announced Wednesday, May 12:

Kristen Bradshaw, Sr. SS, first team

China Frost, So. 1B, first team

Louie Haney, Jr. 3B, first team

Justine Shilt, Jr. 2B, second team

FAIRBORN — Linda Garza slid a legal pad across her desk and picked up a pen. She started drawing.

“The garage was the backstop,” said Garza, the first-year Wright State softball coach, doodling and describing the Wiffle Ball tournaments at her Fresno, Calif., home as a youth. “You pitched from the driveway, and if you hit it past the pitcher, it was a single.”

She drew two solid lines, a dashed line and a tree.

“Then there was a street and a park,” Garza said. “If it was past the street it was a double, and if it was past the tree line, it was a home run. You got a pitcher and one outfielder, and just ghost runners.”

Garza’s participation in this simple game with two older brothers and their friends might have saved the Wright State softball season. After starting 13-22-1, the Raiders have won 13 of their past 18 games and secured the No. 2 seed entering the Horizon League tournament, which begins today, May 13, in Cleveland.

To get there, the Raiders (26-27-1, 16-8) needed the fresh air of Wiffle Ball. In mid-April, after losing six straight games, the players came into practice dreading Garza’s wrath and a running-heavy workout. Instead, Garza produced a thin yellow bat, several Wiffle Balls and split the team into four groups for a tournament.

“We were all wondering what was going on, because sometimes it’s hard to know if she’s serious,” said Justine Shilt, the WSU junior infielder from Greenville. “We just played and had fun. We remembered why we started playing in the first place.”

The tension-busting practice propelled Wright State into a season-ending streak that tied the Raiders with Illinois-Chicago for second place (which receives a bye in the league tournament) heading into the final weekend series between the two at UIC’s Flames Field. After splitting games in a doubleheader on Saturday, the teams met Sunday to decide the No. 2 seed.

In an unusual move for softball, Garza used three pitchers, who held the powerful UIC lineup to one run on four hits in Wright State’s 5-1 win.

Perhaps no player has personified the team turnaround better than Shilt, who started the season in a serious slump after earning first-team All-Horizon League honors last season. Once hitting less than .100 — dreadful for a usually strong performer at the plate — Shilt has batted .397 with an impressive 30 RBIs in 24 Horizon League games.

Shilt, like the rest of the Raiders, has benefitted from Garza’s strong sense of family.

“When I was growing up, we sat and had dinner every night together as a family,” Garza said. “The only time the TV was on was if there was a game to watch, and my dad was the only one who had the angle.”

They also played Wiffle Ball, which later served as a tool to shake Wright State out of a midseason funk and turn the Raiders into a major contender for the league tournament championship.

“Now we just play before the games sometimes,” Shilt said. “It’s become a team thing for us.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7389 or knagel@DaytonDailyNews.com.