Softball Scoop

2009 Purchase College Softball Team

 Softball Tips

So here we have it.  The journal of life as an athlete at Purchase College on the (best) softball team.  I’ll be posting updates from the season as well as recounts of practices and games, basically giving you an inside look on how I attempt to function as a student-athlete.

5.04.09 And when you think it’s all over… It’s not over.

Yesterday I’d planned to meet my coach about how to make improvements for next season and what I expected… Too bad for both of us we’d spoken too soon.  About five minutes early, I went down to find coach’s door closed and locked.  George Eversmann came out of the neighboring office and said, “Gotta get your uniforms ready.” 

I must have looked totally bewildered.  “Who’s uniforms?”

“You guys… You’ve got a game on Wednesday, made ECACs.”

I really don’t think my heart could have dropped any further unless it burrowed through the cement floor of the gym.  Playoffs?  After thinking for two weeks that we’d choked like Yankees?  Well surprise ladies, get your gear and f*ck your finals because we’ve still got a game to play.

At the end of the season as Coach Loscher held his head in his hands and wiped back tears, he was adament that our strength of schedule and overall record wasn’t strong enough for an ECAC bid.

“It’s so hard as a coach when we ask you to do things and you guys give us your best and it just doesn’t work out like you want it to,” said Loscher.  Good thing is: you’re wrong, Coach.  For the first time in the softball program’s history, we’re making history as the first team to recieve an ECAC bid and only the second in school history to do so.

“We may as well have fun with it,” Loscher said on Monday after grabbing a No. 7 seed in the tournament and a playoff at No. 2 seeded Montclair State.

So we shut the fat lady up… now if we can just hold her down long enough to keep it that way.

4.30.09 SEASON RECAP

Well, to say the least it was another long hard preview for an otherwise short and rainy month of softball for Purchase.  Since February, 17 girls have busted their asses in the hopes of proving people wrong and playing for the love of the game.  We aren’t paid, we certainly aren’t perfect, but for the most part – we love what we do and along the way we often find that we love each other (as lame and chick-flicky as that may sound).

This season was no different, and despite our shortcomings and disappointments we played our hearts out.  No amount of rain ever dampened our excitement for coming out and getting dirty… on the field.  But this year, we all knew that at the end we’d be losing three players who are (or were) mainstays of the athletic department at Purchase and anchors for the softball team.  To Emily, Pudge, and Pinky – you are the best group of seniors any player could ask for.  The combination is what you look for everytime you try to think of what you want to do and where you want to be.  I wish we could have done better for you, but we really tried our best.

4.18-4.19 Mt. St. Mary and Farmingdale

This weekend was one that I wish we had been able to play right after coming back north from Florida… On Saturday we split against Mt. St. Mary, the team that knocked us out of the playoffs last season.  They are easily the most frustrating and annoying team in the conference.  By annoying, I can’t possibly do it justice by simply typing up their 6th grade cheers or high pitched voices… I really wish I’d though to record an audio clip.  After every foul ball, a girl no taller than 5 feet would yell in a squeaky little voice “F-O-U-L… foul ball, foul ball.”  They’re the type of team that just aggrevates you to the point that you can’t wait to hit a ball really hard or steal anything from them.  But, equally frustrating is when they beat you.  Which they did to us in the first game.  Thankfully we beat them the second time around, partially out of spite and partially out of necessity to keep our playoff hopes alive.

On Sunday, it was a difficult day for me to play.  In my hometown 7 years ago to the day, two of my very close friends died in a car accident at 15 years old.  The last time I saw both of them was at softball practice and they died on the way home from it.  Yesterday I brought out my patch that my high school team wore on our jerseys every year after that for a little luck.  Apparently it didn’t make much difference since we dropped two games to Farmingdale – one of the country’s top 25 Division III teams.  Well, what are you going to do I suppose.  Their pitchers were some of the best that we have faced all season and on top of that they hit the hell out of the ball.  Emily Stanley got knocked up and around and out and down and before we knew it we were in a hole that we couldn’t climb out of.  That’s just the way it goes sometimes and the fact is that the best teams are defined by the way they come back, not the way they slide.  We’ll see shortly how we respond.

4.11.09 Purchase vs. Sage

It’s absolutely no excuse but I’m going to say it anyways… When you don’t see any live pitching for two weeks, it does something to your hitting.  After losing to a team that we were all but sure of sweeping, we combined for 6 (possibly only 5) hits in the first game.  That would be what I’d call a “dismal” outing.  A few errors later and combined with our lack of hitting and we’ve got this as a result: a 10-3 loss.  Thankfully it ticked us all off enough to fuel a comeback in game 2, in which we 8-run ruled Sage in five innings, 12-4.  Kiersten “Baywatch” Morsanutto hit two towering homeruns that knocked off the rock face in centerfield while Patricia “Pudge” Orellana smacked another one.  Kiersten’s second couldn’t have come at a better time… We escaped an inning earlier after loading the bases and giving up two runs that cut our lead to seven, but with Kiersten’s solo shot, she put us back up by eight; a lead which we held for another three outs to end the game.

As frustrating as it may have been, in general it was a great day for a few of us.  My family and high school coach all made the 5-hour drive to Troy just to see me play.  Talk about devotion.  But my family wasn’t the only one to do it.  Jessie Domes’ family also drove from Buffalo to pick her up for Easter.  Jessie’s mom took tons of pictures which I’ll hopefully be getting so I can put them up on the new pictures page.

It was great to see my family and my old coach.  I really can’t say that enough or tell them thank you enough times.  It still amazes me how badly I wanted to get away after my freshman year and how much closer I feel to them after leaving.  The only thing I wish is that they could see me play more often… Which is definitely one of the reasons that I really hope that we can play St. Lawrence and/or Potsdam next year up north.  That would be, without question, the best gift I could ever get as a senior.  It would be a homecoming unlike any other.

4.08.09 “Death” – Emily Stanley

Having a cold, running on between two and three hours of sleep and then waking up at 6 a.m. for softball practice isn’t anyone’s idea of a good time.  Maybe swimmers – but even that’s a low blow.  I got to the gym this morning in time for stations, despite lacking the ability to breathe.  EmStan was possibly the only highlight.  Apparently she stood outside another girl’s apartment and waited for her to come out with her hood up.  When Melissa came out of the apartment, Emily’s only words were, “Death.”  At least it was a good way to start the morning.  But then came the work which we did until 7:30 at which point I promptly went home and passed out for an hour before my meeting.

Sweet life.

Oh, and thankfully, our game against Sage has been rescheduled for this coming Saturday (before Easter Sunday) so thankfully, my family is still able to make the 5 hour drive to see the double-header.

4.04.09 Again?  Really?

After a rainy week in which some of our most important conference match-ups had to be rescheduled, it had to happen again.  Sweet life.  Our game against Sage, located in Troy, N.Y. (also known as Albany) was cancelled at late last night due to snow.  These are some of the reasons why I love Westchester County – I certainly don’t miss the snow in April.  A teacher during my spring semester at St. Lawrence once told us during class, “April showers bring May flowers, but April snow, well… That will just f*ck you up.”  That was after it snowed 11 inches during the second week in April.

Over the past two weeks we’ve played a total of 4 games.  Both of which were double-headers.  In case you’re curious, that’s not a lot at all.  The baseball team has played 24 games, we’ve play 18.  Since our season only spans one month, that’s a lot of ground to make up in a very short period of time and oddly enough, this week we have completely off.  For the remaining two weeks of the season, we’ll be playing 14 games in 14 days.  It will be hell, but in all honesty, I’d rather play a lot and find a rhythm than be idling waiting for the next game to be cancelled.

Hopefully, we’ll be making the trip up north to play Sage on Saturday.  But then again, we can only hope.

3.29.09 To the Tarp… I hate you.

The softball and baseball teams will both probably tell you that they have a love/hate relationship with the tarp.  Yes it protects the field and bla bla bla.  No offense to the baseball team (which has over 3o players on it) the softball team has it a little worse off than you.  Try rolling that thing out with less than 20 people.

This morning was the epitomy of our hate relationship with it.  Instead of being able to wake up at 9 or 10 to find out our game has been cancelled, we show up at the field by 7:20 a.m. to take the tarp off in case the game will be played after all.  I’m unbelievably grateful that I could climb back into my soft and warm bed after walking there in the rain.  But my god, waking up at 7 a.m. to go there and back and find out its cancelled isn’t anyone’s idea of fun.

Ahh the perks of Division III.

3.28.09 Bye-Bye Blue Angels

Yesterday, our home opener, went as well as anyone could expect.  We had two one-hitters, 24 runs scored… Can’t really complain. Final scores: 14-0; 10-0.

For the returners from last season it was a reminder of how we looked a year ago, struggling to finish 7 innings without being mercy ruled.  As a third baseman, I spend most of the game next to the opponent’s head coach and me being the talker I am, generally spend some of it in conversation with the “enemy.”  The head coach of New Rochelle was understandably frustrated, but made no complaints about the rebuilding team’s first outing of the season.  Honestly, it’s little things like talking to the coaches that make playing – and playing well, seem like so much fun.

Our assistant coach, Brian Peterson, made an excellent point the other day.  “It’s easy to be passionate about this game when you’re winning, but when you’re losing is when you really need that passion.”  Yesterday was a perfect example.  We were up the entire game, loud, laughing, joking, relaxing.  A week ago, when we were down to Polytech we were flat, sloppy, and quiet.

Alyse LaPadula probably won’t let the quiet part happen again.  That freshman is amazing.  Not to say that the others aren’t, but Alyse has the rare ability to get inside people’s heads and make them feel more confident and more capable of helping the team.  Whether she’s climbing the fences or screaming nearly incoherent words to batters and fielders, that girl has something.  She doesn’t play much, a pinch run here or there, but you will never see her complain.  Even if those complaints may be justified.  It’s really incredible to watch and it’s really a measure of character to join a team and be motivated even when you know you aren’t going to see much playing time.  If one thing is certain, it’s that this year there’s no way I’d be having as much fun if she wasn’t on the team.  (Hows that for a shout out Baby Baywatch?)

3.25.09 Dear City Tech…

Yes, it’s true, it really happened and did last season too.  But that really doesn’t make it any less annoying.  On Wednesday we all met up at the field at 2:30 for our game at 3 only to be stood up.  As we were throwing along the sidelines in uniform wondering where the other team was, our question was answered when Chris Bisignano’s phone rang and we all heard the dreaded words, “They aren’t coming.”

So instead we scrimmaged against each other for 3 or 4 innings.  Not as much fun as the real thing but better than standing around.

3.21-22: WEEKEND ROUND-UP:

This weekend we had a weekend that our coach claimed to determine our post-season fate: 2 games vs. Polytechnic and another 2 vs. St. Joseph’s of Long Island, both on the road, both against teams that went to the Skyline Championship game last year.  St. Joe’s hadn’t lost a game in 3 years – note the use of the past tense.

Our first games vs. Polytechnic were some of the most disappointing games we’ve played all year.  They didn’t have great pitchers or fielders, but the bats they had.  They practically pounded us into the ground after being down by 10 runs in the 5th inning to beat us 12-11.  Needless to say we were shocked as hell.  Errors killed us, especially in the outfield.  They kept innings alive that should have given us an 8-run rule win in the first game.  But thats the way ball rolls.  The second game we came out determined to make them pay, but that back fired too as they returned the favor and sent us home in 5 innings.

On Sunday we headed out for Patchogue, Long Island to face a team that gave up a total of 2 hits over 2 games to us last season.  Their ace pitcher, who practically won them the Championship last year, Jennifer Martinez, was pitching batting practice to the Golden Eagles when we arrived.  Emily, Pudge, and I were walking together and in a second we knew it was her.  I told both of them, if she’s here, I’m getting back on the bus.  Thankfully, she’s just been helping out this year but that didn’t make the task at hand seem any easier.  By the 5th inning, we were losing 10-3, one run shy of being done in 5.  Then our bats started doing the talking for us and before we knew it, we’d won 13-10.  In the 5th we scored 8 runs, 6 of which came with 2 outs.  St. Joe’s was handed their first conference loss in 3 years by none other than Purchase – the team picked to finish 7th of 8 teams.

Their coach was furious, to say the least, and so were the girls.  So much that they actually got into a fight that their coach had to break up.  They came back as mad as we were the day before and put us in hole once again.  And one more time, we came back to beat them. 

I think we may have even shocked ourselves.

3.20.09 FLORIDA ROUND UP:

Aside from the obvious perks of 75+ degree weather, beaches, shuttle launches, comes the downside – flight delays on the way there and the way back, double headers in the scorching sun and heat, the pain of sunburn that follows, and the inevitable return to the still-snowing northeast.  But don’t worry, I don’t think you’ll find anyone on the softball complaining about how our spring trip finished up.

At 5 p.m. last Friday we gathered our gear and made our way the Westchester County Airport.  After making it through security with only a few glitches (one player had NO idea that gels couldn’t be brought in carry-0n bags), we all sat patiently waiting for our flight to Orlando.  We all boarded the plane early and got a little pumped at the prospect of possibly landing earlier than expected.  And then the curse of Friday the 13 struck again… after sitting on the plane for 45 minutes an announcement was made that during final safety checks it was determined that a screen on one of the engines was missing and that the part would have to be driven up from JFK and that we weren’t going anywhere anytime soon. 

Thankfully, one player brought the board game Cranium.  Ten of us took up a large area of space on the floor in the waiting area and made complete idiots out of ourselves, imitating our coaches and acting out scenes from movies until at 10, almost 3 hours after our scheduled departure time, we final lifted off for the south.  Mind you this wasn’t the end of our trip there.  After landing in Orlando we had another whole hour of driving to go and at 2:30 a.m. we finally pulled into the driveway of our hotel.  Needless to say, getting there was beyond exhausting.

Then the whirlwind of double-header’s began.  Our first game we played against Alfred University of western New York, followed by Norwich University of Vermont.  We lost to Alfred and bounced back against Norwich, defeating them in extra-innings.  After a full nights sleep we played a double-header against Finlandia, a team that plays its entire season indoors coming from the northern peninsula of Michigan.  Their pitcher was beyond intimidating.  Imagine a 300 lbs, 6 foot Swede hurling a hard ball at you from 43 ft away.  Shockingly, we didn’t hit that day at all and lost both games by shutout.  A little pep talk from our coach must have done some good because the day after we won against Fisher College (Boston, MA) and beat New England College (Henniker, NH) in extra-innings.   Kiersten Morsanutto, my best friend on the team and fellow journalist, SMASHED a grand-slam in the top of the 9th inning to put the game out of reach against NEC.  According to Emily Stanley, our team captain, it was the first recorded “over the fence” grand-slam in Purchase history.  All I have to say is journalism majors – REPRESENT.  Our final day of the invitational we played Fisher and Crown College (St. Bonifacius, MN) with the same outcome to win our last four in a row.  Not too bad for a team who’s freshmen outnumber the returners.

The trip wasn’t without its share of drama and entertainment, including watching the shuttle launch on Saturday night.  My aunt who lives in Orlando told me about it before I left, and with a little insisting by Kiersten and I, we managed to convince our coaches to take us.  No one was disappointed – it was incredible.

Before leaving for Florida, Loscher told us that our goal was to finish the trip 4-4.  We did one better at 5-3, which he claimed to be the defining mark between a good and great trip.  But for softball, the season that lasts all of a month, once it starts there is no time to stop.  This weekend we play Polytechnic and St. Joe’s – two teams we were swept by last season.  With SUNY Maritime dropping its softball program, only four teams will make the playoffs this year.  Farmingdale is a lock for one of them and both Poly and St. Joe’s are expected to run a close 2nd and 3rd, meaning that if we split the weekend, we’ll almost be guaranteed a playoff spot.

As you can imagine, I took a ton of pictures.  So for a complete gallery of Florida shots, click here.

3.09.09

As the countdown for our Florida trip to Coco Beach continues, so too do midterms and the lovely process of room selection.  The week prior to spring break is unquestionably one of the most demanding mentally and emotionally as an athlete, as well as physically strenuous as we all try to get ready for what will be 8 games in only 4 days.

Good news.  New catchers equipment.  For me and Jessie Domes, it’s a little like Christmas, unwrapping freshly assembled Easton Stealth knee pads and chest protectors.  They even smell new – unlike everything else in the gym.  The ankle has healed and to be honest, I’m ready for the week to be over and fly south for at least a little reprieve.

3.02.09

So one of the major downsides of playing college softball is (yes the 6a.m.’s are brutal) the lack of free time you have as a result.  This semester I was going to try to work a job and play, but working as a waitress at least really isn’t possible.  Yesterday was the last day at my job, not that I’ll particularly miss it.  I went to practice for about an hour before having to hop on a bike and ride it a mile down the road for the last time.  The upside of all of this is that it’s one less thing to worry about, one less commitment to feel bad about.  At the same time now my only remaining commitments don’t really provide a source of income.

In only 11 days, our team will be flying to Ft. Meyers, FL for spring training.  We’ll play roughly 8 games in four days, all of which count towards our record.  Ironically enough, most of the teams we’ll be playing against are also from the Northeast, actually closer to my hometown.  I’m really looking forward to a little warm weather and the chance to play outside.  Practicing in the gym for an outdoor sport like softball is easily one of my least favorite things to do.  But it all goes with the game I guess.

Meanwhile, today is a snow day.  While most people are doing a little happy dance, I’m reminded of something my dad always told me, “No rest for the wicked.”  I think he had a little help from Ozzy Ozbourne coming up with that one, but at 6 p.m. we’ll be back in the gym despite the blizzard.

2.24.09

So with a sprained ankle, I’ve been going to practice doing what little I can: a lot of throwing and whatever else doesn’t invlove much twisting or running.  Yesterday after having my ankle taped up by the trainer, I came up to the gym to see our team captain looking straight ahead.  I asked her if she wanted to throw and she too is unable to practice due to severe neck problems.  Our other captain, Pudge, is also still recovering from an ankle injury she suffered a few weeks ago.  Let’s hope that we don’t fall apart before we fly to Florida over spring break.

Tomorrow (Thursday), we’ll be making use of one of the best things that has happend to the athletic program – the turf field.  For a team in the northeast to be able to practice outside before spring break is a huge benefit.  We all realized this last year when the first time we played outside were also our first games of the season.

As basketball season for Purchase came to a close last night at the hands of Old Westbury, all of Loscher’s time and energy will be spent getting us into game shape for our spring trip to Ft. Meyers.  On a side note, this works out especially well for me since the Red Sox happen to be playing in the same town.  I’m hoping to catch a game before coming back to Purchase.

It’s scary to think that all of this is only two weeks away but I’m ready for it.

2.22.09

After falling down a few stairs last night and waking up with a swollen and sore ankle, today’s practice was much lighter than normal.  Although, since Loscher also coaches women’s basketball and this week is playoffs, we split a gym with the basketball team and watched in awe as they ran the entire time we practiced.  Our assistant coach, Petey (as we on the team call him), ran practice.  Being injured is a torturous thing.  I don’t like to sit and watch, so I caught for the better part of what was basically a defensive practice.  While Loscher was putting the basketball team through what we were certain was a hellish practice, Petey hit grounders and worked with the infield and outfield.  Though this is not ordinary at all, this week will be a little easier for softball players since Loscher really has to scout other teams for playoffs.  At the end of practice, Loscher stood between the wooden temporary wall that divides the gym and turned to us and said, “Tomorrow, 5 a.m. You guys ready?” His face was perfectly still and for a moment you could hear all of us take a deep breath.  He turned and looked at Petey while flipping through papers.  “Nah, I’m just kidding.  No practice tomorrow, we’ll go Tuesday at 4 but I won’t be there.”  Again, we all breathed a heavy sigh of relief.  Unfortunately for me and aside from my ankles, I have class conflicts every day but Friday this week.  I don’t really care for that either, but really it’s just a reminder that in playing Division III, I am foremost a student and an athlete by choice.

Time to ice up, I’ve got to be ready to run by Friday morning!

2.20.09

 To sum it up, we’ve been practicing since the beginning of February.  But first, let me give you a brief rundown of our practice (to all the basketball players, I know this sounds easy in comparison).  A typical Monday for us starts before 6 or 6:30 followed by a frigid walk to the gym.  Once we get there and slowly start to wake up, our coach walks in and looks at us with little energy himself and says, “Lets do it.”  If I never again heard those words before 8 a.m., I think my life would be better for it.  Following a little teaser (walking or a few laps jogging around the gym) then comes the fun – conditioning.  Wall sits for different lengths of time, walk-jog-run, the bear walk, push ups, planks, jack knifes, and sprints, to name a few of our morning routines.  Though I will give our coach, Steven Loscher, some credit.  Every morning is different.  After an hour (which generally feel like two), we start throwing.  At this point, it’s as though you can feel every muscle of your body starting to hate you.  But the mentality Loscher puts in us is that the “losers in the gym are the losers in life,” a point I strongly beg to differ on.  Like a good little soldier, I keep my opinions to myself and keep pushing like everyone else.

For a little history on the softball program, I’ll give you a brief run down on last season.  About a year ago, the softball team at Purchase consisted of 17 players, probably less than that actually.  We were so short on numbers that we pulled in soccer players, basketball players, and volleyball players, some of which had never played softball before in their lives.  As coach likes to remind us this year, last year our biggest concern was catching the ball.  We relied on one pitcher so heavily that early in the season, I was called in as a reliever.  To make a long story short, I pitched twice in high school and can’t even do a windmill.  Probably one of the best moments of last year was when our pitcher had thrown nearly 100 pitches and between innings, Loscher turns to me and says, “So Meg, think you can pitch?”  I figured, sure.  What the heck, why not, it’s only a game.  The next inning starts and shortly after, our starting pitcher loads the bases.  Coach gives me the ball and tells me just to get an out.  So I take the ball, walk to the mound and start throwing.  On maybe the second pitch, the batter puts a charge into the ball and sends it deep to centerfield.  Our centerfielder, a soccer player, retreats and starts sprinting towards the plastic temporary fences set up in the baseball field.  Less than a second later, I turned to see her topple over the fence and land on her stomach while the ball dropped a few feet in front of her.  I could see movement (that looked like convulsing ) so for a moment I wondered if my lob-ball was going to send her to the hospital or just make for great conversation on the way home.  Thankfully, her convulsing was laughter and the season continued. 

After that disasterous trip to Virginia, we slowly started coming together as a team.  By the end of the season, we posted a 13-17 record overall and won a bid for the Skyline Conference tournament against a team that easily handled us in the beginning of the year.  Our season came to a close on a bottom of the 7th inning single that put Mt. St. Mary’s ahead, the bitter end to a great year.  Loscher constantly reminds us that last year was the most fun he’s ever had coaching a team.  Judging by our work ethic this season, we’re in for better results but maybe not as many jokes.