GETTYSBURG, Pa. – The Centennial Conference Softball Championship gets underway this weekend at McDaniel College and Gettysburg College is set to make a run at its first title in eight seasons.
Gettysburg (28-12, 11-5 CC) enters postseason play as the No. 3 seed and will face second-seed Haverford College (24-8-1, 12-4 CC) in the opening game on Friday, May 1, at 2 p.m. Top seed McDaniel College (26-10, 14-2 CC) will face No. 4 Muhlenberg College (16-16, 10-6 CC) in the second contest on Friday. The double-elimination tournament continues through Saturday and ends with the championship game Sunday afternoon.
This year's field features three of the last four Centennial champions. Muhlenberg claimed the crown in 2011 and served as host of last season's postseason event. McDaniel won the title 2012, while Haverford enters the weekend as the defending champion.
It will be a tough task to bring down those three teams, but Gettysburg is ready to take on the challenge.
"We have to focus on every pitch, every ball, and be 100 percent dialed in," said second-year Head Coach
Annette Hunt-Shepherd, who is making her first trip to the CC playoffs. "The competition is very tough and we must be disciplined mentally to compete and play well this weekend. We must hit throughout the lineup this weekend; it will have to be a team effort."
During the regular season, the Bullets went 2-4 against their potential weekend opponents. Gettysburg split doubleheaders with Muhlenberg (5-8, 16-0) and Haverford (1-7, 3-0) and was swept by McDaniel (1-6, 1-2).
Those teams will need to be wary of Gettysburg's offensive potential. The Orange and Blue paced the CC in batting average (.343), runs (262), hits (387), doubles (67), RBI (217), walks (121), on-base percentage (.410), slugging percentage (.445), and stolen bases (101). At 6.6 runs per game, Gettysburg is the highest-scoring team in the conference since McDaniel averaged 8.9 runs in 1999.
Arguably the most feared bats sit in the first three positions in the Bullets' lineup. Senior
Melissa Tighe (Little Falls, N.J./Mount St. Dominic Academy), sophomore
Jamie Abell (Glenn Dale, Md./Elizabeth Seton), and junior
Steph Zengel (High Bridge, N.J./North Hunterdon) are among the top eight in the conference in hitting this spring with Zengel at No. 1 (.448), Abell at No. 4 (.423), and Tighe at No. 8 (.405). Zengel also paces the conference in RBI with 41, while Abell and Tighe are tied for the league lead in runs scored with 46. Tighe has swiped a program record 34 stolen bases this spring – 18 more than anyone else in the conference.
The team has also received a big boost from the first-year class.
Stephanie Leonardo (East Haddam, Conn./Choate Rosemary Hall) has hit .376 with 20 RBI and 16 stolen bases, while
Aileen Reilly (Huntington Station, N.Y./St. Anthony's) has logged a 15-2 record and 1.07 ERA.
Gettysburg capped the year with three wins, including a 3-0 decision over Haverford last Saturday and a non-conference sweep of Elizabethtown College on Tuesday.
"It couldn't be a better situation for us," said Abell. "We have all this momentum going forward. We know we're good and we know we'll be competitive and this sweep helps prove all that.
"The goals for this weekend are to play as hard as we can and leave it all on the field with no regrets."
Gettysburg, which sits with the second-most victories in program history, is searching for its first conference title since 2007. The Bullets have won three championships overall with the remaining two coming in 1994 and 1999.
"Our team is feeling pretty good right now," said Hunt-Shepherd. "Focusing on the process the entire season paid off and the team is ready to move into conference action and compete this weekend."
