Fresh approach, fresh mindset

JMU softball pitchers looking to bounce back

from PITCHERS, page 1

Last season, JMU’s pitching staff went through mental blocks — they fought internal battles. This fall, LaPorte and assistant coach Libby Bowman, who focuses on pitching, had a different plan.

Trust, confidence plagued last year’s pitching room

“I think [they think] they have to live up to [2021], and that’s really hard,” Bowman said in the spring.

Last year, among other things, the pitching staff had to grow. It had to develop and learn that “growing is OK,” LaPorte said. LaPorte added that time and time again, the staff compared themselves with former pitcher Odicci Alexander (2017-21), the superstar who headlined JMU’s run in the 2021 Women’s College World Series.

JMU gave up over 100 runs through 22 games to start the 2022 season. CAA winner UNCW gave up just 59 runs through that same span. The Dukes switched pitchers out left and right — it wasn’t just veterans Humphrey and former pitcher Alexis Bermudez (202022). It was also Rodgers, former pitchers Taylor Hankins and Meredith Wells — even sophomore utility player Isabelle Fishman.

Everyone was needed. But everyone had different levels of success. The pressure was so much, though, that Bermudez said “it was probably the lowest my confidence had been in my five-year career.”

“At the start of the season, my confidence was pretty high,” Bermudez said. “We got into a funk, I lost a lot of my confidence. It took a lot of mental work, meeting with sports psychologists and really focusing, reading mental training books and going through a tough mental performance side because it wasn’t physical.”

Bermudez said it got to a point where everyone on staff looked at each other and decided they were going to play for each other.

She said they had to keep it simple, but it took a low point for that to happen — the height of nonconference play.

“We couldn’t do it without each other,” Bermudez said. “I think, because we had such a young team, it took us a little while to catch our groove. There was a lot of pressure to be more successful to take some of the pressure off of them and let them get used to it. I think with it requiring so much from us physically and mentally, it was probably one