Although last season ended in a disappointing loss in the America East Conference championships, the Boston University softball team hopes to reclaim its place atop the conference and win the America East title.
Despite last year’s loss, the Terriers were still named the No. 1 pick to win the conference in the 2012 America East Coaches’ Poll.
Last season’s team, which lost 3-1 to the University of Albany in the title game was a young squad that started six freshmen. This year, the team is more seasoned and BU coach Shawn Rychcik hopes that will work to its advantage.
“It’s nice having the youth, you know, the energy in the young kids,” Rychcik said. “The other good side of it is that most of them all started last year so they have experience. I think that’s really key.”
Among these returning sophomores are pitcher Holli Floetker, reigning America East Pitcher of the Year and Rookie of the Year, as well as designated hitter Chelsea Kehr, who led the league with 46 RBI’s last season.
Also among the strong returning sophomore class are all-conference honorees Jayme Mask and Megan Volpano. Other Terriers on the all-conference roster last year were now-juniors Emily Roesch and Erin Schuppert.
“I thought we grew as a team even as the year went and got better,” Rychcik said. “I think the second half [of the season] was pretty good. So hopefully we can pick up and build on that side of things.”
According to Rychcik, Floetker, who went 14-5 last season, is injured and will consequently not play in as many games as expected.
Despite not winning the America East title, the Terriers dominated the conference all season with a league-best earned run average (2.30), team batting average (.287) and runs per game (5.7).
“I like the fact that we’ve probably grown a lot as a team, grown a lot individually,” Rychcik said. “We have experience under our belt and lots of perspective as we start the season.”
Even after all their success last season, the Terriers still fell short in the championship game, and ultimately look back on the end of the season with disappointment.
While Rychcik acknowledged that any season with more than 30 wins is a good one, the lost championship still hangs in the air for BU.
“Obviously [it’s] disappointing. Our main goal is to win our conference championship every year,” Rychcik said. “We fell a little bit short in the championship game, so that’s something to build on.”
Building on both the successes and failures of last season is going to be the Terrier’s mantra for this year. With most of the team returning, especially most of the starters from the end of last year, this season provides the perfect opportunity to do just that.
The Terriers’ 56-game season begins on Feb. 24 at the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Clearwater, Fla. They will play five games in three days against multiple NCAA ranked teams.
That weekend will mark the beginning of a difficult schedule for the Terriers as they spend the first four weekends of their season away at tournaments before finally returning to their home field at the beginning of March.
“Nobody’s going to lay down for us,” Rychcik said. “They’re all going to come and play us even harder.”
Last year’s disappointing title loss is going to provide motivation for BU as it moves forward this season.
After being named the pre-season No. 1 team in the conference, BU is aware of the target on its back, but refuses to allow that to stop it from achieving its two simple goals for the season.
“Our goals are to win America East championship and go to the NCAA tournament,” Rychcik said, “and hopefully win there as well.”
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