The softball team began its season last weekend at the Camel Invitational in Buies Creek, North Carolina. The Leopards were scheduled to play four games but went 0-3 before their final game was canceled due to inclement weather.
The Maroon and White started off with a doubleheader last Friday, falling 3-0 to Bryant University (3-6 overall) and 9-5 to Campbell University (7-2 overall).
The Leopards were looking to get interim head coach Kelliner Croushore her first win at the helm after Karavin Dew resigned from the position three weeks ago.
In the first game against Bryant, the Leopards strung together three hits with zero outs at the top of the second inning but stranded all three runners. The game remained scoreless until the bottom of the fourth when a Bryant double drove in two runs on two outs to extend the inning. The Leopards were unable to respond, only putting up one hit the rest of the game.
The Maroon and White got off to a hot start in their second game, scoring two runs off of a double from sophomore infielder Katie Harrington in the top of the first but left two runners stranded.
“I just stepped in the box like it was every other at-bat,” Harrington said. “I think that’s a huge thing we’re trying to focus on, is not making the moment too big, keeping it within ourselves and learning how to find the calm in big moments.”
The Camels evened the score in the bottom of the second, then scored five in the third to take a commanding lead. Despite a late rally in the seventh inning, the Leopards were not able to erase the deficit and finished the day 0-2.
“We were able to start strong and end strong,” junior outfielder Olivia Catalina said. “It’s just that middle piece that we’re missing right now, which we’re gonna be working on this week.”
The Maroon and White faced Bryant again on Saturday but once again struggled to reach home plate. After Catalina opened the game with a lead-off single, the Leopards could not string together hits and stranded two runners on base.
The Bulldogs wore down the Maroon and White, scoring one run in the second, before opening the floodgates and scoring five in the third. They looked to add more in the fourth, but Lafayette was able to get a bases-loaded force out to keep the deficit at six. However, they could not piece together a rally and ultimately lost 7-0.
“In our second game against Bryant, we didn’t have any strikeouts, so even just compared to last year, that’s such a big shift in our aggressiveness in the box,” Harrington said. “We’re swinging at the right pitches, we’re not being passive, which is going to be huge for us moving forward.”
Harrington added that the team is focusing on hitting line drives and ground balls instead of elevating.
The Leopards prepared to face UMass-Lowell on Sunday morning, but the game was canceled after it began to rain during warmups.
Although the Leopards left North Carolina without a win, Catalina emphasized that the team has a lot of forward momentum.
“We still executed our mini goals, like staying relatively clean in the field, and we matched the box score for most of our games in hits, we weren’t that far behind,” Catalina said.
The Maroon and White will be on the road again this weekend as they travel to Miami to compete in the Panther Invitational.
“I think it is helpful just to get back into how it’s going to be during the conference time,” senior outfielder Mary Grace O’Neill said.
