A fresh era will soon begin for the Boston University softball team, as a new head coach is at the helm and rearing to bring the program back to Patriot League prominence.
Ashley Waters, who has taken over for the departed Kathryn Gleason, will lead BU’s roster of 22 players through a three-month season that wraps up in mid-May. The Terriers are coming off a 17-27 overall record and narrowly missed out on the Patriot League Softball Championship’s four-team field, creating a desire to hit the diamond once more.
“We’re thrilled to get going,” Waters said. “With this group of kids, they’ve got so much personality and they’re a lot of fun, but also, at the same time, they’re incredibly hardworking. We have an incredible balance of both right now, and everybody is ready to get out of the gate and get going.”
Leading the charge for BU will be an experienced core, the least of which are junior infielders Moriah Connolly and Brittany Younan. Selected as team captains, Connolly was recently named to the Patriot League All-Preseason Team and Younan is two seasons removed from receiving Patriot League Rookie of the Year honors.
As for the pitching staff, seniors Lauren Hynes and Melanie Russell and junior Makinna Akers should all be vital players. They collectively struck out 131 batters a season ago, and pitched nearly 260 innings as a trio.
Others, such as sophomore outfielder Emma Wong, should play complementary roles, but the Terriers’ biggest charge will be reclaiming its storied history. They won the Patriot League Championship and advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 2014, and Waters said she hopes that won’t be a one-off occasion.
“There’s an incredible tradition here, and it’s an incredible institution that makes a lot of kids want to come here,” Waters said. “A lot of those kids are high-academic and high-athletic, so we’re working our way back to the top and it’s going to be hard work. There will be ups and downs, and it’ll take mental strength to battle and come back, but I think we’re going to have a great year and the kids are ready.”
As for Waters herself, the 2016 season will be the first time she leads a Division I program. Formerly an America East Player and Scholar-Athlete of the Year at the University of Maine, Waters also spent the last three years as an assistant coach at Harvard University.
While her current role is foreign, Waters hopes to impart a style in which BU “works hard, plays hard and sees a lot of live action in practice.” She’s also not worried about the legacy Gleason left behind, instead gearing her attention toward leaving her own mark.
“Every coach is different and brings different things, and I’m sure the kids received a lot of valuable information from [Coach Gleason],” Waters said. “For me, it’s very much trying to do my own thing, and a part of that is my own playing experience, coaching experience and mentors along the way. You take something from everybody, and hopefully what we’re trying to teach the kids can translate onto the field.”
With a clear end goal in mind, BU has a busy front half of its schedule to get through before Patriot League play kicks off in late March. The team will participate in five tournaments, and Waters is well aware of the grind that will unfold.
She said she hopes to lean upon her “big guns” in crucial moments but knows that “injuries occur and different kids bring it on different days.” She’ll therefore afford opportunities to a plethora of players in the coming weeks and hopes that BU doesn’t peak until conference play rolls around.
BU was selected to finish fourth in the Patriot League Preseason Poll, but Waters cautioned that nothing will be given to her team. Instead, she’s implementing a game-by-game approach in which everyone plays their part.
“It’s definitely going to be a full team effort,” Waters said. “They’re all going to need to help each other out and bail each other out at different points. It’s a true team setting, and the way we’re viewing this is together. Anything we do this year that we’re going to do great or bad or okay, it’s going to be together.”
Jonathan's a New Englander who writes about sports, features and politics. He currently covers men's hockey at BU, worked as Sports Editor during the spring 2016 semester and is on the FreeP's Board of Directors. Toss him a follow on Twitter at @jonathansigal.
