The softball team had another great season last year, winning the NESCAC championship and advancing to the NCAA New England Regional. The only question now is: What will the Jumbos do for an encore?
Tufts romped to a 31-13 record in 2007, including an 11-1 mark in a NESCAC East division that it easily dominated. The Jumbos are hoping for a similar campaign this year, but the team also has the talent to extend its season all the way to its first College World Series berth since 2000.
Buoyed by the return of 2006 NESCAC Player of the Year and senior co-captain Danielle Lopez, the Jumbos could be even better this season. Forced to sit out last season with an ACL injury, Lopez is healthy and ready to lead a potent Tufts lineup that was the NESCAC's best last season.
"I have been waiting a long time, and it has taught me a lot to be on the sidelines to watch the game," Lopez said. "I'm ready, my knee is ready and everything is fine. I can't expect my knee to be perfect because it's not a normal knee anymore, but it is doing everything I have asked it to do. I'm more than excited to get back on the field and be a part of everything on the field rather than off it."
Without Lopez, the Jumbos still managed to be the highest-scoring team in the league by a wide margin over NESCAC runner-up Trinity. This was in large part due to the performances of a pair of First Team All-NESCAC selections, Samantha Kuhles and Casey Sullivan.
Now a junior, Kuhles led the team in hits and had the second-best average among regular players at .407, while Sullivan took home the conference's Rookie of the Year honor in her freshman campaign after leading the league with nine home runs and 43 RBI.
Teaming this pair with Lopez and fellow senior co-captain Megan Cusick, the latter of whom was a Second Team All-NESCAC pick last season, should give the Jumbos a potent arsenal in the middle of their lineup.
"I think we are expecting to be better," said coach Cheryl Milligan, the 2007 NESCAC Coach of the Year. "I mean, we always want to be better the next year than the previous year, for sure. This is a great returning team. I don't know if it is useful to compare us to past seasons. We certainly have all the ingredients: speed, hitting, defense and pitching. There is a lot to be done. We are not there yet, but we are still working."
That work will begin Sunday, when the team once again travels to California to compete in the Sun West Tournament. The annual spring break trip was a success for Tufts last season, as an 8-4 record against some stiff competition helped jump-start the team's strong season. This year, the Jumbos will be looking to start off strong again and to groom two new pitchers in what is a young rotation.
"We look for a steady improvement," Milligan said. "We will look for our pitchers to have good outings. We have a pretty young pitching staff right now, and we want them to have successful outings whatever the outcome will be. We will be playing teams that are a little more seasoned than us that have been playing outdoors, but there is no reason we can't win every game out there that we play."
Freshmen Kim Miner and Izzie Santone will be given the opportunity to make an impact right away. With the loss of pitcher Lauren Ebstein to graduation and the decision by senior Erica Bailey to forgo her final season, the Jumbos' rotation is thin on experience, but not on talent. Junior Lauren Gelmetti, another First Team All-NESCAC selection, will anchor this year's group, along with sophomore Stefanie Tong.
"I think for our pitching staff, not having Erica is a loss for the team," Gelmetti said. "We have two really strong freshmen, and Stefanie Tong tore her ACL [last year] and is working back to where she needs to be, and I'm working back to where I need to be. I don't anticipate feeling any added pressure. It will be all of us pulling our weight."
Still, a veteran roster that has 10 upperclassmen will help ease in the two pitchers, as well as freshman catcher Julia Silberman. With the Jumbos' experience, the team should be able to get off to a good start in California.
"I think that this year, because there are so many upperclassmen, and everyone is kind of experienced and knows the ropes, it makes a leadership role not so much of a guiding role but more of an encouraging role," Lopez said. "You don't need to show people how to do things; you lead from behind and kind of work with everybody rather than try to lead them and tell them what to do."
With the success of last season under their belts, the Jumbos are hoping that last year's title can be a springboard to even greater heights this year.
"I think we are really excited going into the season," Gelmetti said. "We have more or less everyone from last year, and D-Lo's back, and our incoming freshmen have a lot of potential and a lot of talent. I think we have really high expectations to go potentially further than we did last year, and I think everyone would like to see that."
