HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — Preseason workouts are underway for the USF softball team. The Bulls are starting life "A.C.," jokes head coach Ken Eriksen. "A.C." means "After Corrick." Georgina Corrick graduated as one of the most dominant pitchers in USF and NCAA history.
"How do you attack this season with a different philosophy?" Eriksen said with regard to his "A.C." approach. "It'll be like basketball except we don't have any TV timeouts, so you'll have to keep up with the line-up."
There's one thing Eriksen says he needs to keep consistent if he wants his teams to have success. And it has nothing to do with offense or defense.
"So the biggest strategy on those types of things is making sure breakfast, lunch, and dinner are on time," said without hesitation. "Because you don’t want hangry young women at you after you’re out there for four, five, six, seven hours a day."
Eriksen's entering his 26th season as Bulls head coach, so he knows what he's talking about.
"Sometimes we get a little bit hangry on the road," joked senior infielder Megan Pierro. "When we’re going through the airports and then going to practice and stuff like that. We really look forward to the food aspect when we’re on the road."
"Fit in the food!" Eriksen said enthusiastically. "Fit in the pregame, okay, and the mid-game, and then the postgame. So our biggest budget problem is not travel. It’s food. That’s it. Bottom line. That’s the only thing I’m worried about, to tell you the truth."
The Bulls will need their energy right out of the gate. Their non-conference schedule includes some of the best teams in the country, and there's a stretch that has the Bulls playing 12 games in ten days.
"We love to have that sort of competition," Pierro added. "Having that heavy schedule is something that we look forward to, and I’m excited to have again this year."
Senior outfielder Meghan Sheehan is just happy to be playing. She missed 2021 with a knee injury, and she played last season with a torn ligament in her left glove-hand thumb. This year, she says her confidence is back, and she's taking a simple approach to the season.
"Not try to do too much now that I am healthy and feeling 100% again," she said practice. "I think facing the challenges that are in front of me and trying to lead by example while doing that. Taking it day-by-day, pitch-by-pitch. Keeping that approach."
The Bulls' team approach is the same as it's always been. Use the preseason to start building toward the postseason.
"You don’t want to go into the postseason being surprised. We don’t make our schedule- yes, we’d love to win a conference championship along the way- but we’re putting a schedule out there to get to [The Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City]."
The Bulls open the regular season on February 9 when they host perennial Big Ten power Michigan.
