As the softball team reloads this season, its offense, one of the region's most explosive over the past several years, will be on the minds of many opposing coaches. But the Jumbos' rotation, which includes two of the NESCAC's top five pitchers from 2007 and two big-time regional recruits, may be what really gives teams fits this season.
Junior Lauren Gelmetti and sophomore Stefanie Tong return from strong 2007 seasons and will be joined by high school standouts Izzie Santone and Kim Miner, with senior Heather Kleinberger likely seeing some innings as well.
"I'm actually really excited about our staff this year," coach Cheryl Milligan said. "We obviously have two very strong returners in LG and Tong, and we have two freshmen who have been doing very, very well. I think it will be as strong as it's ever been."
There are certainly innings to fill from the 2007 staff, in which four players threw at least 40 innings. Then-junior Erica Bailey, who will not play this season, pitched 79.1 innings last season and departed senior Lauren Ebstein added another 39.2.
"There's nobody on this staff that wouldn't like to pick up some extra innings," Milligan said. "The freshmen are ready."
With Bailey and Ebstein gone, Gelmetti is the senior member of the rotation. She was thrown into the fire early in her career, starting the Jumbos' NCAA elimination game in 2006, and has since grown into one of the league's best. As a sophomore, she dropped her ERA by 0.66 to 1.95, third in the NESCAC, and almost doubled her strikeout-to-walk ratio while leading the team in innings pitched (86) and complete games (seven).
"I think freshman year was just getting my feet wet, learning that you can't throw fastballs left and right and you can't hang any pitches at this level," Gelmetti said. "I've always been confident in my pitching, but I got that year of experience and came back last year with a better understanding of how to make it work."
Gelmetti, the only lefty on the staff, is less effective against left-handed batters, who knocked her around for a .353 average last year; she held righties to just .226.
"It's good to have a lefty in the rotation," said the Jumbos' catcher, senior co-captain Megan Cusick. "Not only does it mix things up for the batters, but she is also able to put incredible spin on the ball."
Tong spent much of the offseason recovering from a torn left ACL suffered in the Jumbos' NESCAC championship win last season. But the 5-foot-10 sophomore will return with her near-untouchable knuckleball, a potent weapon considering its rarity at the Div. III level as well as its inherent unpredictability.
"It's not a pitch I've ever seen another pitcher throw," Tong said. "It puts a lot of batters off guard because it's completely unpredictable; I don't even know what direction it's going to break. And it's a very slow pitch, so the batters have to generate most of the power themselves to hit it hard. It's definitely unique."
Tong relies mostly on her knuckleball and drop ball, and the drastic change in speed keeps batters on their toes. The sophomore finished last season with a 2.05 ERA, right behind Gelmetti for fourth in the NESCAC ranks, and 61.1 innings pitched.
The team's two rookies, Santone and Miner, both come to the Hill as big recruiting prizes with impressive high school credentials. Milligan expects to use them immediately and regularly in the rotation.
"Thus far the freshmen have been excellent at keeping their composure on the mound and getting the job done, so I see nothing but good things from them this year," Cusick said.
Santone finished her senior year at Daniel Hand High School in Connecticut with a sub-1.00 ERA and a First Team All-State selection. Her six-pitch arsenal includes two drop balls and a fastball that tops out around 62 mph.
"I'm hoping to work on my precision and overall strength, neither of which I found I needed that much in high school," the 5-foot-11 rookie said. "At the college level, you need to be more concise."
Miner was the Boston Globe's Massachusetts Div. II Player of the Year in 2007. The ace of perennial state power Concord-Carlisle, Miner finished her senior season with a 0.49 ERA and her second straight Dual County League Player of the Year nod.
Miner has five pitches in her arsenal and said she expects to use them all frequently.
"That's one of the things about moving to higher levels - you can't rely on just one pitch," she said. "You have to change the height of the ball, the movement, and get it to break on two planes if you can."
For rookies, the biggest jump at the college level is the frequency with which batters punish pitchers for a misplaced ball.
"The margin of error is a lot smaller here," Miner said. "When I make a mistake in practice, the batters make me pay for it. So we've been working on spotting the ball exactly where we want it and hitting the glove where it is on every pitch."
While the Jumbos' roster has plenty of potential designated hitters, their pair of rookies may not need them. Santone hit a school-record .500 her senior year while Miner hit .459, and both hope to see some at-bats in addition to their work on the mound.
Like the rest of the team, the young staff faces a tough first test. The Jumbos head to California this weekend for the Sun West Tournament, where they will face some of the nation's top bats.
"I think as freshmen, the two of us are expected to be at the same level as the other pitchers," Santone said. "There's a lot that goes into it, but it's just a simple process: throw your pitches, strike batters out when you can and produce ground balls the rest of the time."
