Kansas University softball coach Tracy Bunge should be singing the blues after learning this week she has lost her best pitcher to an injury.

Yet Bunge is warbling a surprisingly happy tune considering sophomore Serena Settlemier will undergo surgery on her pitching arm next week and will have to take an injury red-shirt season.

“I feel like our strength is still our pitching staff,” Bunge said.

Bunge still has senior Kirsten Milhoan and junior Kara Pierce, two hurlers who have been to the wars and enjoyed some success.

Pierce was the Big 12 Conference freshman of the year in 2001 after posting a 22-11 won-lost record and a 1.91 earned run average, but she slipped last season to a 12-9 record and a 2.50 ERA.

Bothered by nagging arm and leg injuries in 2002, Pierce was a classic victim of the sophomore jinx.

“I’d have to say so,” said Pierce, a right-hander from Mesa, Ariz. “I didn’t believe in it until it happened. Now I do. But my sophomore year is over.”

Bunge has liked what she has seen of Pierce in preseason workouts.

“She had the sophomore jinx, or whatever you call it,” Bunge said, “but she’s been extremely motivated. She’s throwing better than she did during her freshman year.”

Bunge places Milhoan, a right-hander from Peoria, Ariz., in the same category.

“She’s been throwing better than I’ve ever seen her throw,” Bunge said.

Milhoan’s problem has been consistency. She played in junior college as a freshman and has compiled a lackluster 14-20 record in two years with the Jayhawks.

“I’ve had a lot of highs and a lot of lows,” said Milhoan, like Pierce a native of suburban Phoenix. “I feel smoother and I’m throwing with a lot of rhythm. In the past, I always worked too hard to paint the corners. I’m trying to get around to changing my philosophy and challenge hitters.”

Settlemier led the KU staff with a 12-7 record and a 1.88 earned run average last spring. She also hit .297 — the third highest batting average on the team — while being used as the designated player. And the Kelso, Wash., product did it all with an sub-par wrist.

“She broke it in high school,” Bunge said. “It was never right, and it has gotten worse. Finally, it became so painful she couldn’t throw and she couldn’t hit.”

Surgery is scheduled Tuesday at KU Med. According to Bunge, Settlemier will be in a cast for eight weeks, and won’t be allowed to pitch for at least another four or five months after that.

Losing Settlemier gives Bunge one less seasoned player on a team festooned with new faces. Bunge lost her entire outfield and three-fourths of her infield to graduation.

Sophomore Lindsey Weinstein returns at first base and junior Mel Wallach, a reserve utility player last season, will open in center field. Dani May, a junior from Lawrence, will start at catcher, but probably share duties with freshman Melaney Torres.

Junior Sandy Smith, a reserve infielder the last two years, will probably open at third base, but Smith is being pushed, Bunge said, by freshman Nettie Fierros.

Newcomers definitely will start at shortstop, second base, left field, right field and probably designated player.

The Jayhawks will open a week from today at a tournament in St. Augustine, Fla.