Secret to winning is playing with intensity

The Cowgirls have a secret weapon when it comes to winning games.

Their is secret is being the home team.

The No. 25 Cowgirls take on the No. 14 Louisville Cardinals at 6 p.m. on Friday at Cowgirl Stadium.

Senior outfielder Megan Castle said there can be some advantages to playing a big team at home because the Cowgirls notice the "little" things that could contribute to them having an edge over their opponents.

"Anyone would like to be on their home field at anytime, especially playing a big team and also being able to play later at night so we have a bigger crowd," Castle said. "It is a comfort zone for us to be on our field especially against a big team because there are little things like how our walls might be different, our grass, plus we know the ins and outs, ‘the tricks', about our field that the other teams won't."

While the familiarity of your own turf can assist to an extent, there is also the mindset the players have to have when going into a game against a higher ranked team.

Junior second baseman Alysia Hamilton said the game is really against themselves, they have to bring their A-game.

"We are going to have to bring our A-game," Hamilton said. "We have to give it all we got and make sure we go out there ready to play. We are pretty much playing ourselves, it doesn't matter who the team is. We are going to go out there with intensity."

Coach Rich Wieligman said it will be a good game, but he thinks the Cowgirls can hold their own.

"Last game was against Danielle Lawrie from Washington, the hardest thrower in our game," Wieligman said. Louisville also has good pitching, and they are good at swinging. It is basically what we have been playing these last three weeks. They are ranked 14 and are a good program.

They have had a good success. Last year they won 40-some games. They are a good solid team. This weekend we play Nevada, Louisville and OU and they are three tough teams. They are well coached and they play well. We have to play well to win."