The softball team may have ended its season with a loss, but when it came to the 2007 campaign as a whole, there was no shortage of highlight-reel moments.
With a NESCAC trophy in hand following a 5-0 May 6 victory over Trinity, coach Cheryl Milligan's squad earned itself a spot in the Div. III NCAA Tournament. The team played five games in the tournament, ultimately losing a pair to Rhode Island College, which sent it packing for Medford rather than Salem, Va.
The team was just one weekend away from the World Series - a lofty goal most groups set for themselves at the beginning of every season. For the Jumbos, that goal was not unreachable, and in fact, if not for a few botched plays, that goal would have been a reality.
"It's frustrating how close we were and how much more potential we had," Milligan said. "But at the same time, you have to realize that if you're not playing your best game, you're not going to win. As much as I think we were the better than [RIC], we just didn't do it."
Still, the glass was not entirely half empty for a squad that held its own against some of the region's elite teams.
"It was exciting to know that were potentially one game away from going to the World Series," junior tri-captain Megan Cusick said. "We got a taste of what it's like to be one of the top teams in the country."
After Tufts opened up the tournament with a pair of wins against Emerson and Wellesley - a team it only mustered three hits off of during the regular season - the group's eight-game winning streak was cut short with a 3-0 loss to Rhode Island.
The double-elimination format gave the group a little room for error, but after beating the Blue again, the Jumbos just couldn't get over the hump against the Anchormen.
"We just didn't play our game," Milligan said. "We had some easy outs that just weren't easy outs for us. We played great defense against Wellesley, which boded well going into last couple games. Rhode Island hit the ball hard and we hit the ball well against them, but the difference was that they didn't make the mistakes we made."
Although the squad's playoff run may have been cut short by isolated fielding miscues, it was impressive that the team advanced so far in the season considering its youth, inclination towards injury and shakiness in early April.
"We did a lot this season," Milligan said. "We broke a lot of records. I told them after the [RIC] game I was proud of the way we fought. We could have laid down, but we fought and we fought hard. We didn't play our best game, but no one quit. And up until that last out, I thought we would win it, but that's the way it goes."
That relentless team attitude was evident from the get-go, as the squad had to overcome adversity to live up to its billing as one of the region's best programs. After its reigning NESCAC Player of the Year junior Danielle Lopez tore her ACL a week before the season, the Jumbos desperately needed someone to step into the void.
With seven new faces on the roster, the onus fell on freshman Casey Sullivan, who more than bolstered the team with her quickness at second base, and took the league by storm in the batter's box, rattling off a year most players can only dream about. She finished 2007 with a NESCAC Rookie of the Year trophy in hand.
But it was the team's NESCAC trophy that was all the more impressive, especially after the rough patch it encountered in late March and early April when it dropped four out of five, including a doubleheader sweep at the hands of the Ephs.
As seemed to be a theme throughout the year, the team recovered and rattled off a string of wins that landed it in Providence, R.I. for the NCAA Tournament.
Such a conclusion to this season can only bode well for next year, as the team will only say goodbye to four seniors - tri-captains Annie Ross and Lauren Ebstein, in addition to Alaina Thiel and Sarah Taylor. With the seven freshmen coming back for another go-round, the Jumbos are anticipating an even more explosive start to next year than the one that saw them compile an 8-4 record against some tough California competition.
"It's positive coming back with great people," sophomore Lauren Gelmetti said. "We won't have to really get as comfortable with each other as we had to this year. We'll have the same core group, which should give us an advantage at the beginning of the year."
After being just one weekend away from a World Series showing, the team is hoping it can draw even more blood next time around.
"We're taking what we did this year, raising the bar each year - who knows where it can end," Cusick said. "We've always had the goal of going to Regionals and doing well. Now we realize winning Regionals is a reality, and it's something we'll set out to do every year."
