Shelby Bradley | Sports Co-Editor

Jenna Falline, a junior pitcher for the Buena Vista University (BVU) softball team, is from Newell, Iowa and majoring in Business at BVU.

In Falline’s first year as a Beaver, she went 8-11 on the mound and posted a 1.88 ERA during Iowa Conference play. This helped the Beavers make their second straight trip to the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) Tournament.

Following her first season, Falline appeared in 29 games during her second year, this time finishing 11-11 overall. During this season she also picked up a shutout in a 6-0 win over Lawrence.

So far this year, Falline has appeared and started in 20 games overall, nine of those being conference. She holds a 6-8 record and has marked up one shutout. She currently has 37 strikeouts and averages 2.72 strikeouts per game.

“I feel like my breaking pitches have improved over the years, especially since I’ve been at Buena Vista. My change up has improved greatly, as well as my rise ball,” Falline said.

Falline mentions that the biggest change from high school ball to college is the difference in the batters and how well they hit the ball.

“It’s a completely different game on some aspects. Each batter in a college line up is like a number four hitter or some of the fastest players in the conference in high school,” Falline said.

Falline’s catcher is sophomore Cheyanne Boland, and she remarks on the amount of trust each of them have within each other.

“Without trust no relationship can be successful,” Boland said. “She trusts me behind the plate in both my pitch calling and that I will do my job to the best of my ability, and I put my trust in her that she will do the same. She believes in me, and I believe in her. There isn’t a stronger connection than that.”

Falline is the veteran pitcher this year and has been seen as a constant role model for not only Boland but the younger pitchers as well.

“She works hard and never gives up,” Boland said.

Falline as well as the rest of the Beavers closed their regular season with two wins against Grinnell College on Tuesday night, Apr. 28. The Beavers won the games 10-1 and 10-2, respectively, in five innings.

Photo by Kyle Shade