Florida Atlantic University Athletics
Barnes Looking Forward to First Encounter With Louisiana
4/22/2011 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 22, 2011
Provided by Marcus Nelson, FAUOwlAccess.com
Florida Atlantic's Heather Barnes wasn't thinking about a home run when she approached the plate against FIU with the game on the line in the bottom of the seventh.
And when she fell behind 0-2, the junior second basemen just wanted to avoid striking out to end the game.
A few moments later Barnes was indeed on her way back to the dugout , but it was after she had just been mobbed by her teammates after slugging a walkoff home run to give the Owls a 3-2 victory over FIU on Wednesday.
"I wasn't necessarily trying to get a home run," Barnes said. "I was really just looking to get a pitch that I could hit hard. After I hit it, I had never sprinted around the bases so fast in my whole life."
Barnes shouldn't have been so surprised about her blast down the leftfield line. She has hit three home runs this season and is tied for the team lead with Rose Gressley.
"I have actually been hitting the ball pretty well lately," Barnes said. "I've had two shoulder surgeries and I feel like I am finally getting back to hitting the ball like I did before the surgeries."
Barnes hopes her home run over FAU's local rival will give the team some momentum as the Owls play host to Louisiana-Lafayette, the perennial premier program in the Sun Belt Conference.
"Hopefully we can keep hit the ball like we have been doing," Barnes said. "Even though this is my first year here, hearing about ULL, I am excited to get to play them probably even more than FIU."
The Owls (28-22, 12-7 Sun Belt) and No. 17 Ragin' Cajuns (38-6, 13-2) begin a three-game series on Saturday at 6 p.m. at FAU Softball Stadium.
