Junior softball pitcher Morgan Mansur has provided the team with a spark through her performance on the mound. Mansur leads the team in strikeouts and she has not allowed any home runs this season.
Mansur said she trusts her team will provide her with the proper support that she will need when pitching and in return she will do the same for them.
“I have total confidence in my team to have my back at all times,” Mansur said. “I want to do everything that I can for them also and try to get ground balls, pop-flys and other easy outs for them so we can work our way into getting runs on the offensive side.”
Mansur was the starting pitcher in three of the team’s five shutout wins this season. She also has the best win-loss percentage on the team with a .778 percentage.
Mansur said that a lot of her effectiveness comes from her curveball and changeup. She said that both are effective in deceiving batters and getting strikes.
“I like the changeup just because the off-speed is such a challenge when you’re seeing a lot of the same speed and you’re not expecting that off speed pitch,” Mansur said. “Curveballs I’ve been throwing for a long time and I’m very comfortable throwing it.”
Mansur is a transfer student from Lincoln Land Community College.
“Lincoln Land was only a two-year college, so I had to move on,” Mansur said. “I really loved it there, I have a lot of friends and a lot of heart in that program.”
When it was time to transfer to a four-year university, she knew Webster was the right place for her.
“Since I had to leave due to Lincoln Land being a two-year school, I chose Webster because Coach Eaton runs a very good program and he was very confident in me and I like that,” Mansur said. “When I went to visit I knew that St. Louis and the girls that I met were going to be really fun to be around and be with.”
Mansur is from Decatur, Illinois where she played softball while attending Mt. Zion High School. She was named to the Apollo All-Conference team her junior and senior year and the National Fastpitch Coaches Association presented her with the NFCA All-American Scholar-Athlete Award her senior year.
Mansur said that coming to St. Louis from a small town like Decatur took some time to get used to, but she said she enjoys it now.
“It’s very different here from my hometown and I wouldn’t say I’m a city girl by any means,” Mansur said. “It’s nice to live in Webster Groves because it’s not exactly in the city, but its close enough to where if there’s things I want to do, there’s stuff to do. Back home there’s not that many options so that’s what I like a lot about St. Louis, there’s so many options of things for me and my friends to do.”
Despite Mansur and her family being in different states now, she said her family is still able to come to some of her home games. She said she gets a thrill out of performing in front of them.
“They get to come to a lot of my home games, it’s about a two hour drive,” Mansur said. “They don’t complain about making it and I love having them there to watch me. They’ve been there every since I started and my dad was my first coach and he was a lot of my inspiration to play the game, and my mom’s always there to cheer me on.”
Head coach Chris Eaton has shown his faith in Mansur’s ability by how often he has used her in a variety of roles. She leads the team in games in relief and in overall appearances.
Eaton said he was excited when Mansur decided to transfer to Webster. He said she has the ability to be unflappable when facing opposing batters and that helps fuel her success.
“She’s done well, we recruited her out of [Lincoln Land], she came from a really good program,” Eaton said. “Nothing really phases her when she’s pitching. She’s sort of that calming influence with everybody in the infield.”
Senior pitcher Alexis Spriggs said that Mansur has been a vital factor for the team’s pitching staff because of them losing pitchers to graduation and injuries.
“Morgan has helped our team immensely,” Spriggs said. “With Morgan coming in, she’s worked her way into being a starter and a reliever, so she’s definitely helped us win in any way that we’ve needed.”
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