Being a perennial contender in the NESCAC is no easy task. Doing it without your best player is even harder.
But the women's softball team is working with the players it has, trying to fill the void left by second baseman and last year's NESCAC Player of the Year, junior Danielle Lopez, who tore her ACL doing agility workouts in practice last week, relegating her to the sidelines for the entirety of the 2007 campaign.
"It's a pretty big blow," Lopez said. "I was really excited about jumping into the season and contributing. It's going to be hard not playing, but I have great teammates and a great coach, so I know the team will be fine."
Being fine is a relative term for the Jumbos, as Lopez provided no shortage of offensive fireworks from the three-hole last season, leading the team in batting average (.383), runs scored (43), doubles (12), home runs (11), RBI (48), slugging percentage (.702) and OBP (.441).
"Without a doubt, it's a huge loss to our offense," junior tri-captain Megan Cusick said. "But we have a ton of great hitters, and if everyone steps up a little we should be fine."
"If you consider D-Lo to be our best hitter - and by the numbers you would say that's the case - we'll have to be more balanced [this year]," coach Cheryl Milligan said. "We're going to have to have everyone getting base hits now."
If any team can survive the loss of such an offensive powerhouse, Tufts is it, having combined for a .311 batting average last season, which dwarfed its opponents' .250 average. The Jumbos have always been renowned for their offensive prowess, but they surprised their opponents with a new-look lineup last year, replacing some of the previous year's monster bats with fleet-footed bunters and slappers at the top of the lineup.
"Last year the difference between that and two years ago was [an] influx of speedier kids," assistant coach Naomi Greckol-Herlich said. "It is certainly an asset, because it makes us more diverse and makes us more competitive."
Still, Lopez and company made noise in the middle of the lineup, which, combined with the speedsters, yielded a near-unstoppable threat that landed Tufts in the NCAA tournament for the eighth time in program history and the first time since 2003.
"We didn't play a whole lot of small ball last year - it was just a shock to see people who could bunt and run," Milligan said. "We haven't relied on big bats as much [as in previous years], and this year should be more of the same. It's hard to know where the fast kids will end up in the lineup right now."
With new faces on the roster this season, it will take awhile for Milligan and her coaching staff to settle on a consistent lineup. In fact, with such a versatile group of youngsters, the team might never settle into a constant batting order.
As last year's team will attest, having a young group does not necessarily translate into a rollercoaster season; the 2006 squad recorded an impressive 28-16 record and came just a line drive away from winning the NESCAC championship. Only losing three members of its 2006 roster to graduation - co-captains Jess Barrett, Sarah Conroy and Julia Brenta - the team may still be young, but a majority of the players have NCAA experience.
"The sophomore class is straight-up so much better than last year," Milligan said. But we expect them to be improved - they had the off season to work on things. If they don't come in improved, we know that something is wrong."
The younger players will have the chance to prove themselves on Sunday when the team kicks off its season in Orange, Calif. at the Sun West Tournament with a game against Elmhurst during the afternoon, and a night-cap against Dana. With 12 games in seven days, Milligan will have no shortage of opportunities to experiment with the lineup card.
-Eddie Mishan contributed reporting to this article.