KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Jenny Rohn era of the Western Michigan softball program begins this weekend at the Best of the Bayou Tournament, hosted by Louisiana-Monroe beginning on Friday.
The Broncos open the tournament against Lindenwood on Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. ET and then take on host ULM at 5:30 p.m. WMU has two games on Saturday against Houston Christian at 1:30 p.m. and then against the Warhawks at 6:30 p.m. Western Michigan concludes the weekend with one more game against Lindenwood on Sunday at 10 a.m. Live stats for all of WMU's games will be available at wmu.statbroadcast.com.
Western Michigan has 18 games scheduled before opening Mid-American Conference play with a three-game series against Buffalo at home on March 17-18.
Although it is opening weekend, Rohn, who was hired back on June 29, 2022, had a chance to assess her team in the fall when the Broncos played seven games. It's a team with 21 on the roster, 11 of them in their first season at WMU.
Rohn and pitching coach Morgan VanderBor are looking at a four-person pitching staff to start the season.
Junior Rissa Bajusz, freshman Madysyn Lopez, senior Autumn Godwin and freshman Caitlyn Mullins look to pick up most of the work.
Bajusz is also a good hitter, and when not pitching, will be in the mix at first base. She had a .236 batting average last season with four doubles and two home runs. She also had a team-high four stolen bases.
''Morgan has done an amazing job with the pitching staff, putting in a lot of hours of one-on-one work with them to create relationships, figuring out what each pitcher's top pitch is and then working with the catchers,'' Rohn said.
Bajusz loves the attitude of everyone on the team.
''It's nice to see everyone coming together and Coach Jenny is coaching us to new levels and we're seeing new things out of people,'' she said. ''There is so much determination, grit and fight from everyone. They are excited to come back and learn something new and get better every day.''
Rohn is looking at a staff that isn't dependent on just two pitchers and a staff where multiple pitchers could be used in a game. It's a new situation for some of them because in high school, the best pitchers rarely came off the mound.
As far as the hitters go, they are being coached by Rohn and former Bronco Marlee Wilson. Rohn was the hitting coach, among other things, at Harvard last season and Wilson was Dayton's hitting coach.
The Broncos are in a good spot when it comes to returning hitters. The team returns its second, third and fourth-best hitters, who combined for 61 of the team's 149 runs batted in. Senior Alyssa Kramer played in and started all 54 games last season, hitting .275 and was second on the team in RBIs with 25, along with seven home runs and six doubles. Kramer also led the team in runs with 23. Junior Cassidy Brendtke led the team last season in at bats (161), hits (43) and doubles (11). The Belleville, Mich., native was third on the team with 21 RBIs and hit three home runs. Senior Courtney Farrish had seven home runs and drove in 15 runs in just 24 games played last season.
WMU added transfer catcher Haley Boxwell. The junior comes from Northern Colorado, where she hit .394 in 20 games last season. Also joining is an eight-member freshman class highlighted by utility Bella Gerlach, infielder/outfielder Haleigh Smith and Lopez.
A big item of focus for the coaching staff is the present and not last season's 22-32 overall record.
"In the fall, my goal was to be in the present," Rohn said. ''We're going to create a new culture together."
"We have a leadership council and let the players decide on the culture and what their motto for the season is. The coaches were in the room, but they designed that together, which was really cool."
Bajusz has seen changes, too.
"In the first meeting we had with Coach Jenny, she was such a breath of fresh air and got us started on day one," she said. "She has such high expectations for this year and we are all buying into it."
"Coach has an attention for detail, and just getting those details put together before we play is going to be really important going forward."
