Megan Dennis is always creating new challenges for herself. Her catcher Aubree Brattin says that Dennis comes up with a new challenge every inning, every hitter.
But when she’s at her best, it seems that someone or something has challenged Dennis. Take her game at Washburn this year. Dennis overheard Washburn coach Lisa Carey say before the game that it was going to be a slugfest.
So Dennis went out and struck out the side in the first inning. She went back to the dugout and told her teammates, “Looks like it’s going to be a strikeout-fest to me.”
Dennis ended up taking a no-hitter into the seventh inning.
“She doesn’t like when people — not undermine her — but don’t give her the credit that she deserves,” ESU coach Kristi Bredbenner said. “She goes out there and she’ll take it to them.”
As far as challenges go, Megan Dennis has faced plenty throughout her career and throughout this season. She’s had four surgeries on her right knee, which is so sensitive she’s not allowed to run on it.
“Now I have a cadaver ACL,” Dennis says, “and I hope it’s some dead softball player who was awesome.”
Dennis has had others, like Carey, question whether she’s a legitimate No. 1 pitcher, and she never lets the chance slip by to prove her case.
And here we are in the postseason, where in softball it almost always comes down to good pitching. Last weekend, Dennis helped carry the Hornets to their sixth straight MIAA tournament title and into the regional tournament this weekend at San Angelo, Texas. The Hornets are looking to get back to the World Series, and they need Dennis to get there.
“If we don’t have good pitching this weekend, we’re going to lose,” Bredbenner said.
Being No. 1
Dennis was pretty much handed the No. 1 starter role coming into this season. With All-American Samantha Sheeley gone, it had to be Dennis, because the only other option was freshman Jennifer Heerey.
As the No. 1 starter, Dennis started every opener and Heerey would pitch Game Two. Dennis liked this role. It’s a big reason why she transferred to Emporia State after her sophomore season at the University of Missouri where she had become the team’s closer.
“I could have stayed at Mizzou, but I didn’t want to be just so-so the rest of my career,” Dennis said. “... I wanted to go seven innings. Who doesn’t want to be the No. 1 pitcher? I just wanted to do as much as a I could with it.”
Dennis pitched effectively for the most part this season, but in April, she fell into a little bit of a slump. At Missouri Southern, Dennis gave up three runs to one of the worst offenses in the MIAA and Emporia State lost the game. The Hornets won the second game with Heerey on the mound.
The next day ESU traveled to Pittsburg and right before the opener, Bredbenner told her pitchers that Heerey would go first.
That day Dennis pitched 4 2/3 innings of relief in the opener after Heerey struggled, and then she threw a complete game three-hit shutout in the finale and the Hornets swept.
“When she did that, it kind of lit a fire under my butt,” Dennis said. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh. I’ve got to get it together because this is my last shot. I’m a senior and this is all I’ve got.’”
Three days later against Newman, Dennis was back at No. 1 and she threw a perfect game.
“It started off she was pretty upset about it,” Brattin said of Dennis’ one-day demotion. “From that point out, she’s pretty much had that fire going. She’s had that diehard attitude, not willing to risk having that position switched again.”
Sending a message
Going into the MIAA tournament last weekend, the Hornets knew they needed to win the tournament to guarantee themselves a spot in the regional tournament. They went into the conference tournament ranked ninth in the region, and so it was a must-win scenario.
It was a perfect situation for a team and pitcher that love playing the no-respect card.
Emporia State lost its second-game against Missouri Western and Dennis struggled. She gave up an unexpected five runs in 3 2/3 innings. In her final seven starts of the regular season, she had given up only five earned runs altogether.
“I wasn’t impressed with the way Megan threw against Missouri Western and I think she knew it,” Bredbenner said. “I think she wasn’t happy with the way she pitched herself. After that game, I felt like our seniors had a little bit of a sense of urgency. This could be the end; this isn’t how we’re going to go out.”
Facing elimination with another loss, the Hornets won three straight games on Saturday and Dennis was masterful. She pitched a complete game against Fort Hays State, 1 2/3 innings of relief against Central Missouri and another complete game against Missouri Western, giving up zero earned runs on the day.
Then Dennis found another challenge awaiting on Sunday against Nebraska-Omaha, which had roughed her up for six runs in only 3 2/3 innings earlier this season.
“It was our first conference series against UNO and we didn’t play very well,” Dennis said. “We didn’t hit very well and I didn’t pitch very well and we split. I kind of wanted to take it to them and prove that Emporia then was not Emporia now, and we proved it and I think they were all just kind of caught off guard.”
Dennis pitched a complete game in Game One, giving up one unearned run in a 5-1 win. She came on to pitch 4 2/3 innings of relief in Game Two and the Hornets came from behind to give Dennis her fifth win of the tournament.
“She just came out every game and blew them away,” Brattin said. “She kept them off balance with that changeup and she did awesome.”
Ready to carry
her team
As Bredbenner says, Emporia State is not going to win this postseason without pitching. She says this weekend’s four-team regional is a hitter’s regional, and the team that also has good pitching should be the one to move on.
Sounds like a challenge for Dennis.
Dennis can no longer fly under the radar. She was named the national pitcher of the week on Wednesday. But she does have a pitch, her changeup, that’s something few hitters have ever seen — or at least, are not going to see too well.
“My senior year (of high school) she struck me out on three changeups in a row,” Brattin said. “It’s something I will never forget. It’s definitely a pitch our opponents struggle with. I’m definitely excited she’s on my side.”
That changeup makes Dennis a legitimate No. 1. With the challenge to prove that’s true out of the way, expect Dennis to create new challenges in her head in the weeks ahead as she tries to help her team conquer the one challenge that’s eluded them the last few seasons: A national championship.
“She understands what she has to do to be successful and she’s stepped up and gone out with a bang,” Bredbenner said. “I’m excited to see what she can do.”