Sports
Baseball and softball ready to hit the diamond
By Jack Vissicchio ’17
February 20, 2015
The smell of green grass in the outfield, a clear blue sky overhead, hearing the crack of a well-struck baseball under the hot sun. Unfortunately, although practice officially started for both the Continentals men’s baseball and women’s softball teams on Saturday, they are going to have to wait awhile to before they get to experience any of these things. For now, they are going to have to settle for odd practice times indoors in the field house as they begin to prepare for what be successful 2015 seasons.
The men’s baseball team experienced both highs and lows in 2014. They finished the year with at 10-16 (.348) record, unable to improve upon 2013’s 16-21 (.432) winning percentage. The seasons was highlighted by two conference victories including ending Wesleyan’s 12 game winning streak, and coming from behind at home to beat Middlebury.
The outlook’s bright for them to improve this season on last year’s results, and possibly achieve their first winning season since 1990. On offense, they are returning almost all of their major offensive contributors and the most important spark of the offense, Joe Jensen ’15. Jensen led the way on offense last season, starting all 26 games and compiling a .398 batting average, scoring 23 runs and stealing 23 bases on 26 attempts. He is already Hamilton’s all-time leader in stolen bases by a wide margin. Additionally, the future of the offense looks bright for the Continentals as three of their major offensive contributors, Kenny Collins 17’, Chris Collins ’17 and Ryan Wolfsberg ’17, all had very successful first-year seasons.
The pitching situation is a little bit more of a question for the men. Senior J.J. Lane is looking to recapture his sophomore year success when he was third in the NESCAC in overall ERA. Last year, Finlay O’Hara ’17 provided a much needed boost for the Men, leading the team with a 3.48 ERA in 21.1 innings, while holding opposing batters to a batting average of .218. The continued development of O’Hara will be very important to the Continentals as they will need someone to pickup for the lost workload of last year’s innings leader Colin Henneberger ’14.
The Continental’s women’s softball team has had the exact same record, 13-22 the past two seasons. This stability is a little ironic, considering that the team has been in a period of transition since 2011. The women have had three different head coaches during this timespan. This year, however, they aim to and improve on last season’s accomplishments.
Coming into this season, the women are losing their leading producer on offense Sam Miller ’14. Miller led the team in batting average (.340), doubles (11) and RBIs (21). However, the future on offense still looks bright as the Women received crucial contributions from sophomores Hannah Staab and Becca Butler last season. Butler was close behind Miller with a .348 batting average and Staab led the team in total at bats (121) and total hits (38) while starting all 35 games. Both players look to improve on last years impressive numbers and pick up the slack for Miller.
The pitching staff last season mostly comprised the efforts of now seniors Kelly Leonard and Monique St. Jarre . Leonard was the primary starter last season and looks to be the favorite to win the job again this season. Last year, she lead the team in innings (146), ERA (3.21), complete games (14) and strikeouts (87).
Moving forward, both the men and women are looking towards spring break trips to Florida where they will open up their seasons on March 15th and 16th, respectively.