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Drury’s softball team was fast to reach 25 wins on the season in roughly 40 games.
A large part of their success this year is the dominating performance of pitcher Kristina Bettis. Bettis didn’t know what to expect this season.
“I had high expectations, didn’t know if I was going to meet them with the surgery,” the Drury junior said.
Elbow surgery knocked Bettis out of the fall season leaving some doubt coming into the spring, but she’s quickly erased that doubt.
“She’s been a huge part of our success and we knew that coming in that she was going to probably help us to get to another level that we are trying to get to in this program,” Drury softball coach Jerry Breaux said.
Which is exactly what she’s doing. Bettis is a five-time GLVC Pitcher of the Week, she’s on the top-50 watch list for Division II Player/Pitcher of the Year, and holds the school’s single game strikeout record.
“First of all she’s a strikeout pitcher. I’ve had strikeout pitchers in my career, and strikeout pitchers have what I call the ‘it’ factor. I don’t know what that ‘it’ thing is but she’s got it,” Breaux added. “Nothing bothers her. She just lets things roll. Basically, she’s very confident, very composed, and very competitive. She’s very durable.”
Bettis has shown that durability by pitching more than half of Drury’s innings this year while using a straightforward approach.
“Keeping everything simple and keeping the stress down and just playing your game,” Bettis said.
She’s also coming off an incredible month of March only allowing one earned run in 65 innings. A stat she attributes to her partner behind the plate.
“A lot of my success comes from the catcher,” Bettis added.
That catcher is Gracie Thomas. Prior to Drury, these battery mates had some history.
“I actually played against her at my junior college. Honestly, and we can both say it, we really didn’t think we were going to get along when we got here because we were rivals at our junior colleges but being roommates with her and spending every moment of every day with her it’s made us click and have good chemistry, and now we’re good friends,” said Thomas.
That friendship is taking Drury softball to new heights this Spring.
