After one of the greatest seasons in school history, which included a NESCAC championship and a trip to the Div. III College World Series, the softball team graduated eight players, which accounted for nearly half of the squad.
But talking to this confident bunch, you would never know it.
"I see our team right now as the Chicago Bulls of the 1990s," senior co-captain and shortstop Casey Sullivan said. "We graduated a lot of talent, but will still have Michael Jordan in [junior] Izzie [Santone], Phil Jackson in coach [Cheryl] Milligan, and [sophomore] Lena Cantone is like our Dennis Rodman — she's crazy out there."
The Jumbos will definitely need to play like the Bulls if they hope to repeat the success they had this past season. Led by stellar hitting and even better pitching, the Jumbos won both the NESCAC title and their NCAA regional tournament while only dropping a single game. They finally fell to Gustavus Adolphus, only four wins away from the national title.
But with the loss of eight players and the addition of four freshmen, the Tufts squad will have a very different identity this season. Still, the Jumbos are ready to move forward, and they do not plan on spending any time dwelling on the successes of the past.
"We know that we are capable of being successful, but I feel if we are thinking about what happened last year, it's not going to happen," Cantone said. "We can't dwell on it. If we come into this season like it's a new year, we'll be fine."
Cantone will be an integral part of the lineup this season. As a freshman, she settled comfortably into her role. With the onus on the upperclassmen, she hit an impressive .375, the fourth-best on the team, while driving in 40 RBIs, second-best in the NESCAC. Her play earned her second team All-American honors.
But this season, she will be right in the heart of the lineup, and putting up similar numbers will be essential if the Jumbos hope to produce as well as they did last season. Right alongside of her will be Sullivan, who was tied for the most home runs on the team last season with five while batting at a .379 clip. Together, Cantone and Sullivan will be two of just three remaining from last season's starting lineup. It will be up to this pair to set the tone for the new starters and consistently produce throughout. But there is little doubt that opposing pitchers will be gunning for them all spring.
"I approach every time I hit the same way, regardless of who is batting around me," Cantone said. "We still have the bats in the lineup to keep it going."
"We are going to be just as strong as we were, and there won't be anyone that can be pitched around," Sullivan added. "We are going to need to be more strategic with where people are batting in the lineup. That isn't to say that we don't have strength in hitting, but that we are going to need to be more creative in using it."
Tufts' pitching situation will also be quite different this year. While Santone, who last year was 21-2 with a 1.13 ERA, returns, the loss of Lauren Gelmetti (LA '09) leaves a large gap in the rotation. While the Jumbos primarily used only Santone and Gelmetti this past campaign, they may be rotating in up to five pitchers this year, including seniors Stefanie Tong and Erin Gallagher, who threw only 36 innings combined in 2009.
"Last year, Lauren and I had a good routine going," Santone said. "It will be different this year, but that doesn't mean any worse."
The Jumbos will also be looking to get production out of some of their newest additions. Freshman infielder Emily Beinecke will be playing a central role in the lineup right from the beginning, while fellow first-year pitcher Rebecca DiBiase will be counted on to absorb a lot of innings throughout the season.
"They are both very hard workers and have played a lot of softball," Sullivan said. "They are going to make an impact this year, and we need them to if we are going to be successful."
While a return to the College World Series is always on the team's mind, the squad's first and foremost goal is another NESCAC championship. The Jumbos have taken home three straight NESCAC titles and have won 23 of their last 24 games against conference opponents. To the team, anything short of another conference trophy would be a disappointment.
"I expect us to win the NESCAC," Cantone said. "Though people think that the NESCAC isn't as good of a conference, there are definitely strong teams. Winning the NESCAC is always our first goal of the season."
But conference play will have to wait, as the team will pack its bags and head out to California to participate in the Sun West Tournament once again to begin its season. For the Jumbos, who were in the preseason top 25 but have since fallen out as other teams have started play, there will be a lot to prove on their weeklong trip. The 12-game slate includes matchups with Cal Baptist and St. Thomas, the latter of which received two more votes than Tufts in the latest national poll.
"The St. Thomas game is going to be very important," Sullivan said. "We want to prove how good we are, and playing against a team like them will prove how much talent we have. To play against a team like that in the first week of the season will definitely be a challenge. If we do really well, it will prove we are a good team still."
Tufts enters this season with a lot of youth and a lot of enthusiasm. While the team may lack the experience, it has all of the tools to make another deep run into May.
"Every year is different," Santone said. "We might need to find our stride, but I have full faith that when we find it, we will be just as good if not better than in past years. I am really excited about this year and am looking forward to California when we can get our rhythm going and really perform well as a team."
