Senior pitchers Allison Doocy and Lauren Shaw are known as the one-two punch for the Iowa softball program.

Before the 2020 season was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Doocy and Shaw combined to be the pitcher of record in 23 of Iowa’s 25 games, and boasted the two lowest ERAs on the squad, with a 1.54 ERA and 1.71 ERA, respectively.

In her career as a coach, third-year Iowa head coach Renee Gillispie has developed multiple All-American and Hall of Fame softball pitchers. Gillispie said the secret to a strong pitching staff is how they handle themselves on the mound.

“The [pitchers] we have in, we’re just working on them to handle the load is the first thing,” Gillispie said. “Getting them to a point where they can go back-to-back games and be strong enough to handle that on the mound… Every pitch they throw is important, so we just instill that in them.”

After 356 days away from the diamond, the Iowa pitching staff will have six games in three days, and finally face batters that aren’t their teammates.

“I’m really excited to see that new competition and have that adrenaline again,” Doocy said.

Shaw has not faced any Big Ten opponents since her freshman year. She was sidelined with an injury for the 2019 season, and the 2020 season was canceled before Iowa could play any Big Ten opponents. Now, Shaw will only face conference batters.

But most of all, she is excited to finally see her teammates as teammates, not competitors.

“I’m really excited to face batters that aren’t my teammates,” Shaw said. “It’s been a long, many, many months of throwing to the same batters. They know exactly what I throw, they know my exact best pitches and my sequences, I know them, so it’s going to be nice to be able to face new batters who have new surprises and variety and new challenges.”

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As Iowa starts its season Friday against Ohio State in Leesburg, Florida, Doocy and Shaw will be competing for time on the mound.

Because they have opposite qualities, the pair doesn’t see it as competition within themselves.

“Our connection is way deeper than softball,” Shaw said. “We rely on each other, on and off the field. And her being a right-ball pitcher and me being a drop-ball pitcher, rightly-lefty, high-low, fast-slow, we’re just complete opposites of each other, and so that really complements it… We’re not there to hope for a ground ball, hope for a pop out, we’re going to attack the zone and give you our best, and we want [each other] to face the best.”

As leaders of the pitching staff, Shaw and Doocy stress to the rest of the team that it is never a competition.

“We’re a staff,” Shaw said. “We’re not there as one pitcher, two pitcher, three pitcher, four pitcher. No one cares about rankings, no one cares about who the best pitcher is, who gets the most innings. No one cares about that. It’s that we’re a staff. It’s all of us or none of us.”