Coaches come up with many forms of motivation for their athletes.
Power-hitting sophomore pitcher/first baseman Addison Coulter believes Kaneland’s Mike Kuefler, appealing to his players’ taste buds, has conjured up with a winner to help the Knights improve their approach at the plate, especially those tough-to-handle offerings on the outside corner.
Winner winner, chicken dinner? Uh, no.
It’s more like Taco Tuesday, although most any day can work just fine.
“I feel like we have an incentive when it comes to hitting to the opposite field,” Coulter said. “We have our taco hat and we call it Oppo Taco. Any time somebody has an opposite-field hit like for a game-winner or an opposite-field home run, the next day we get tacos at practice.
“We all see that in the back of our minds, take our coaches words into consideration and want to prove we can do it for them. We’re listening and trying to put words into action.”
Coulter took that to heart Friday, hitting her first home run of the season to the opposite field in starting a 10-run second inning that led Kaneland to a 13-2 nonconference win at West Aurora.
The Knights (9-7-1) broke a scoreless tie by sending 15 batters to the plate in the second. Coulter’s blast rode a strong wind to right-center and scored junior right fielder Madison Kossakowski, who had doubled on an opposite-field swing to right.
Coulter, who started and pitched two scoreless innings before exiting for the day, also grounded out in the inning. She ended up striking out two and scattering a hit and a walk.
Fellow sophomore Makayla Jonutz, who allowed two unearned runs, teamed up with Coulter to stymie West Aurora (8-10). Sophomore catcher Lillyana Crawford paced Kaneland’s 13-hit attack with three hits.
Kossakowski, junior first baseman Ansley Ruh and senior center fielder Madison Anderson added two hits apiece.
“We’ve worked hard on that in practice,” Coulter said of taking the ball the other way. “Thursday, all day in practice, we were going oppo, oppo, oppo and coach was stressing it again (Friday).”
Senior pitcher/second baseman Ellie Peck, a Lewis recruit who reached base three times and scored three runs, confirmed that Kuefler’s motivational ploy seems to be working.
“We like our food,” she said.
Coulter and Jonutz are making the most of their limited chances in the circle behind Illinois-Chicago commit Brynn Woods, a senior who recently reached 500 career strikeouts, and Peck.
“Ellie has been solid, too,” Kuefler said. “She’s unflappable on the mound. She can actually be in the toughest of situations and she’s just stone cold, does a great job for us.
“Ellie and Brynn are a perfect combination. They’re our warriors right now.”
Coulter and Jonutz both figure to have expanded pitching roles next season.
In the meantime, Coulter has made valuable contributions at the plate and first base, where she settled in last season. She hit .281 with a team-high seven homers.
While it took her awhile to get her first one this spring, Kuefler wouldn’t be surprised to see Coulter equal last year’s total before the season ends.
“She’s just a strong kid and showed plenty of promise as a power hitter,” he said.
Coulter is now hitting just .233 with 10 RBIs but also has drawn 10 walks, boosting her on-base percentage to a robust .421.
“She sees the most pitches in her at-bats of anyone on the team,” Kuefler said. “Her pitch selection is outstanding and she definitely gets quality at-bats. She’s getting it figured out.”
While providing the impetus for some tasty treats.
“Somebody brought the taco hat home from Peoria,” Kuefler said. “I live in Elburn and will order a bag of tacos on the app and bring them to practice, plus one cheese burrito, I think.
“That’s for Brynn Woods, who doesn’t like tacos.”
