What a season!
���������� By Gary Braham�� 5-17-2000
Colgate womens softball..4 out of 12 players on the team make all Patriot League first team, another one gets second team.� Colgate only wins 3 out of 10 league games.� We finish 5th out of 6 teams, then finish the season by getting some amazing recruits.� It's been an odd season, lets take a� look.
Last years team won the Patriot Leauge title and advanced to the NCAA's.� Pitching was Colgate's key, but, our starter graduated.� Beth Haas saw most of the starting jobs for Colgate, but could not equal her predecessors accomplishments.� Colgate had some good young hitters, and fielding was a strong point as well.
The early season saw a tough schedule for Colgate.� They grew together as a team against some tough competition.� We also hosted an invintational early in the season.� The Patriot League schedule began positivly, with a sweep of Bucknell.� The rest of the season did not go as well.� Playing a complete game seemed to be an issue.� The hitting wasn't as consistant, and the pitching wasn't always there for a whole game.� Colgate had some great hitters, but they could never put them together.
We had more than our share of Patriot Leauge players of the week, 4 of our starters were named first team, another one named second team. In the end, many Colgate and league records fell to this years team.�� 5 of the 10 top batting averages in the league came from Colgate.� Enough accolades, wait till you hear our record in the league.... 3 wins, 7 losses.
Thats right, after all that, we finished next to last in the league we were the champions of last year.� Some of the games were very close, others were ended on the mercy rule.� Not a banner year by any measure as far as the standings are concerned.� Colgate was only average in runs given up, we were above average for hitting and fielding.� It just never came together for Colgate, thats all you can really say.
Then you have our recruits.� Next year we will have three players who can probally get into a much better softball program.� We have signed two amazing pitchers, both with a HS ERA of less than 1.00 in a competative league.� I can only assume that the two of them will be our starters for the next 4 years.� We also got a slugger who will add even more power to our lineup, as well as being a top notch outfielder.�
Considering that 3 of our all league players will be returning.� The team is still young too.� The class of rising seniors is pretty small, we will still have a young team next year, but with more experience.� It also might be announced that the league tournament might be held at the highest seed.� Will we see Colgate get crowned champions at home....FOR THE NEXT 4 YEARS!!!!?� Just a thought....