While I wait for the weather to warm up and watch as the semester draws to a close and summer gradually approaches, my mind has already automatically switched into baseball mode, meaning that the part of my brain that would usually be reserved for memorizing Rajon Rondo’s assist totals and Shaquille O’Neal’s rebounds (or lately, lack thereof) has morphed into a hub for ERA and RBI statistics.
But, as I complained a few months ago, our school, for some inexplicable reason, got rid of its baseball squad years ago, leaving softball as the only team playing on a diamond and making me wonder what I could possibly do with my spare time over the next month. (Get a head start on studying for finals? Yeah, right!)
Translation: I’m latching onto you, softball team.
Now, this isn’t to say that I’ve never enjoyed softball outside of its similarities to baseball, because I definitely have. A few of my best friends played softball in high school and it’s an entirely complex and enjoyable sport to watch if you know what’s going on (just like baseball).
But you see, I was raised in a baseball family. (Here is where I brag about my family, so look out!) My dad played college baseball for University California, Santa Barbara and at one point turned down a scholarship offer from University of Southern California (and thank God for that! Me, a USC fan? I’m just going to go throw up now). My brother was the starting pitcher on his high school baseball team and garnered countless awards, to a point where I was known on campus as “Matt’s little sister.” (Fun times!)
So sure, I’m used to watching baseball as soon as April rolls around, and yes, I’m well aware that this column is a tad bit late, considering that the softball season started around a month ago. But I figured it was appropriate considering that they pulled off an amazing comeback against Boston College recently, overcoming a seven-run deficit to defeat the hated Eagles.
I’m partially inclined to give this team all those cliché nicknames that sportswriters everywhere have already come up with after the come-from-behind win (“Comeback kids,” etc.), but I think I’ll refrain and just excitedly pronounce that it takes a very, very talented team to come back from seven runs down to win. Coach Shawn Rychcik even called it a “wild one” and admitted that he had never seen a game like it in his time at BU.
Yes, the team just recently got lost two of three games in a weekend series with University of Maine because of an error-prone set of games, but the kind of moxie it takes to regroup after giving up seven runs in one inning is an entirely rare quality, especially in college teams. If you can come back from that, you can do anything, including fixing your messy defense.
That defense has been one of the only black marks on this team’s otherwise stellar record. They’ve committed a total of 43 errors in 28 games, an average of about 1.5 per game. The only teams in their conference with more errors are Maine and University of Maryland-Baltimore County, who have both played more games than BU. It may be slightly troubling, but there’s no reason to believe that they can’t put the pieces together and start playing solid defense.
Because of those two losses to Maine over the weekend, the team is fourth in the America East standings, but in all honesty, that’s not saying much. The team’s overall win percentage is better than anyone else’s in the conference, and Binghamton University, the first-place team in the AE, is barely hovering over .500.
I’ll try to refrain from making too many bold predictions, but I firmly believe that this team can overcome its defensive woes and find its stride now that matchups with AE opponents are on the horizon. As of now, they’re 18-10 overall and 4-2 in the AE, with those two losses coming over the weekend.
I know this may not mean much coming from someone who is just starting to notice the softball team a month into the season, but better late than never, right? Plus, it looks like I caught on at just the right moment. The team is just about to start a series of games against conference opponents, which should give us all a fair idea of how far this team can go in both the AE championships in early May and the NCAA tournament soon after.
So if you’re like me and once held a prejudice against softball for not living up to its baseball counterpart, do yourself a favor and give BU’s softball team a chance. It’s worth it.
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