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Softball
The 2003 season has not started out the way the Holy Cross
softball team had envisioned it. The team is coming off a
14-35, 8-12 Patriot League season from last year. However,
the eight league wins allowed the team to snag the final
playoff spot in the 2002 Patriot League Tournament. It was
the fifth consecutive year Holy Cross has a achieved a post-season
berth. In the Patriot League Tournament, the Crusaders posted
a record of 1-2, but upset the top-seeded Lehigh Mountain
Hawks in the opening game of the tourney for their only victory.
The Crusaders, led by Head Coach Bob Neville, hope to build
on that strong finish this season. The team started off the
spring in Orlando, Fla., competing in the Rebel Spring Games
along with teams from the University of Albany, Loyola-Chicago,
Detroit-Mercy, Bethune-Cookman, Sacred Heart and LaSalle.
Holy Cross went 0-9 on the trip, including two one-run losses
to Sacred Heart and Loyola-Chicago. The Purple returned to
the Northeast, but their luck did not change. The team suffered
two more one-run losses to Quinnipiac, 5-4, and, 6-5, on
March 27. However, with an uncharacteristically warm month
of March, Freshmen Field was ready for action and the home
turf supplied the added boost the Crusaders needed.
Holy Cross opened Patriot League play against Bucknell on
March 29. The team posted its first win of the season in
the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader with a dramatic
come-from-behind victory in the late innings. Bucknell jumped
out to a quick 1-0 lead when shortstop Meredith Gill homered
in the first at-bat of the game off pitcher Nicole Vitti ’04 (Stamford,
Conn.). The score remained 1-0 until the bottom of the fifth
inning when Vitti helped her own cause, singling in Michelle
Greene ’05 (Woburn, Mass.), who had reached on a
fielder’s choice. After shutting down the Bison in the
top half of the inning, the team came right back in the sixth.
With two outs, Jean Connolly ’04 (Tewksbury,
Mass.) singled to right field and scored on a double to the
gap by Megan Lally ’06 (Lake Forest, Calif.).
The Bison were held in check by the Crusader defense in the
top of the seventh, and Vitti and the Crusaders both picked
up their first wins of the season. The team picked up a second
win the following day in another exciting game. Trailing
3-0 after three and a half innings, catcher Alycia FitzPatrick ’05 (Lake
Forest, Calif.) and Vitti both drove in two runs in the bottom
of the fourth to cut the lead to 3-2. Holy Cross struck again
in the fifth inning when Greene delivered a one-out double
to centerfield to score three Holy Cross runs, including
the winning run. Earning her second win of the season. Vitti
was named Patriot League Pitcher of the Week for her impressive
performance. Heading into April, the team has some momentum
and is looking to build upon its success.
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