The softball team was off to a rocky start, beginning the season with a 3-8 record before River States Conference (RSC) play even began.

Like past seasons, the team started heating up once conference play started, but I did not expect just how hot they would get.

The first conference game came at Brescia in the form of a loss. The second game of that doubleheader, the Pioneers rallied to a win in 11 innings.

After that first win, a four-game losing streak commenced. The two games after those losses? Canceled.

The Pioneers have gone on from that losing streak to win nine of their last ten games.

Before their latest streak, the Pioneers were next-to-last in the RSC, ahead of only Ohio Christian University.

It was the two games against Ohio Christian that were the turning point for Point Park.

After two wins against non-conference opponent Malone University, Point Park tallied their first two conference wins since their initial win at Brescia.

The following day, the Pioneers gained two more wins against Cincinnati Christian, racking up a six-game win streak.

An entire week went by before we saw them in action again, but this past Friday they added onto their win streak by two games when they traveled to Asbury.

Saturday, they went to Midway. The Eagles dished out the streak-stopping loss that fueled the fire of the Pioneers. That fire swallowed Midway just hours later when Point Park rallied back to shut them out in the next game.

To read more in depth on how the latest games went for the Pioneers, you can check out my article about the softball team on page eight.

Needless to say, the Pioneers have had a season of streaks this year, but they are on the hot side of things and the season has been looking up.

Since their latest win in that second game against Midway, Point Park is ranked third in the RSC, behind only Rio Grande, who is receiving votes in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Top 25 Poll, and IU Southeast. The Pioneers are just 4.0 games behind first at the time of publication.

Leading the charge of Point Park is junior pitcher Katie Tarr, who was the star of my column last week. Since writing that column, Tarr threw a career-high 17 strikeouts in the second game against Asbury. In her last five games, she has pitched complete games and notched double-digit strikeouts in all of them.

Like I said last week: ‘her talent is aging like a fine wine.’

Tarr and the offense of the Pioneers have the ability to determine their fate, but which streak will come next?