Though softball head coach Jenny Parsons often tells her team that it takes nine players to win a ball game, she said her pitching staff are the ones who give the Colonel defense the chance to make plays and win ball games.

With five pitchers on the 2011 Colonel roster, Parsons admited that she doesn’t have a set rotation. She said her ultimate goal is to start one pitcher and let her finish that game, but said she can have as many as four pitchers throw in a game.

“We just try to match up our pitchers’ strengths against their hitters’ weaknesses,” Parsons said.

The Colonels welcome back lone senior pitcher Carlee Winklemann, who pitched 15 games and made 10 starts for the Colonels last season. Winklemann earned a 3.82 earned runs per game average, while also being a designated hitter for the Colonels in 11 games.

Winklemann brings experience to the Colonels after transferring last year where she played two seasons at Blinn Community College in Brenham, Texas. In 2009, she pitched her junior college to a 56-11 record, sending her team to the Junior College World Series and eventually placing fourth overall.

In her final season of collegiate softball, Winklemann hopes to end her career on a positive note.

“I want to leave here knowing that I left everything on the field,” Winklemann said. “I don’t want to have any regrets knowing that if I had done something different, the results would have been different.”

Nicholls welcomes junior transfer Lauren Crane, who comes from Spring Hill College, where she pitched and played outfield for the Lady Badgers. Crane appeared in 64 games with 55 starts and had a career batting average of .240 with 36 hits.

As the only left-handed pitcher for the Colonels, Crane hopes that she will throw opposing teams off their game. Crane said she is enjoying the switch from Spring Hill College to Nicholls because of the heightened level of competition.

“My other school wasn’t Division 1 so it’s a lot more competitive here,” Crane said. “Everybody cares a lot more about softball because it’s Division 1. It’s just a different level of softball.”

Also returning to the Colonel rotation is sophomore right-hander Ashton Bennett, who leads the Colonels in innings pitched with 32.2, and strikeouts with 16 this season.

As a freshman, Bennett proved to be an instrumental part of the Colonel’s lineup, starting 30 of 36 games and tallying 26 hits for a .313 batting average. To compliment her hitting abilities, Bennett pitched in seven games with four starts striking out 23 batters in 25.1 innings last year.

Bennett believes her biggest asset is that she is both a good pitcher and a good hitter. Head coach Jenny Parsons agrees.

“Bennett throws the hardest on the team,” she said. “She has a good drop ball, and she throws a good low rise ball.”

Freshman right-hander Megan Marcet joins the Colonel lineup from Pearland, Texas after she helped guide Pearland High school to the Texas 5A state title in 2010.

Marcet knows she will earn the playing time she is given. She has been preparing for her first collegiate season through daily practice with Parsons and the catchers.

“As a freshman, I just have to come in as a relief here and there whenever needed,” Marcet said.

Nicholls also welcomes freshman right-hander Katie Moulder from League City, Texas to the pitching staff. Moulder has already made an immediate impact on the Colonels. In her first collegiate softball season, she has started three games and pitched 17 innings, striking out five batters.

After graduating in the top 10 percent of her class at Clear Lake High school, Moulder has found the transition to college to be smooth.

“I’m really organized, and I like to get things done right as I get them,” she said.

As for the transition from high school softball to college softball, Moulder said she’s learning quickly.

“In summer ball and high school, you can get away with missing a pitch, and it’s okay,” she said. “But if I miss a pitch in college, the other team is going to take advantage of it and hit it over.”