BENNINGTON, Vt. – Under the guidance of first-year head coach Paige Gage, the 2017 Southern Vermont College softball team is gearing up to make a bid for the New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) playoffs this spring.
The Conference announced the results of its preseason poll on Thursday with the Mountaineers being tabbed to finish ninth in the league standings.
"We have a lot of energy this year," said Gage. "Seeing how much everyone has improved from day one makes me excited to see where they will be by the end of the season. We are in a really good place right now. They have been working extremely hard in the gym this past month getting ready for game one, and I know all their hard work will pay off."
Gage returns three players from last year's squad while welcoming nine new faces to the program.
"This team is fairly young, and it is excited," the SVC skipper commented. "Next year, we will have everyone returning—which is an exciting aspect as a coach. They really came together this winter and are learning well from each other. If they communicate as well as they do at practice come game time, they can reach their goals.
"Being able to lose and turning those mistakes into lessons will be a big part of the season," Gage continued. "If we can turn a loss into a learning aspect, and take those mistakes we made and learn from them, we will be able to come back right away in game two and not make those same mistakes. We will need to turn over quickly from a loss—or a win—and worry about what is right ahead of us."
Among those coming back to once again don the SVC uniform is junior captain Nicole Matthews (Pittstown, N.Y.) who was tabbed an NCAA Division III Preseason All-American by Fastpitch News in January. She made her way onto the All-NECC Third Team in 2016 after having a stellar sophomore season that saw her rank second in the league and sixth in the nation in batting average (.522) and on base percentage (.582)—both of those marks being new SVC single-season records. She was also first in the NECC and 11th in DIII in slugging percentage with a .884.
Additional returners for the Mountaineers are sophomores Lizzy Bench (St. Petersburg, Fla.) and Carissa Bottisti (Amsterdam, N.Y.). Bench led the team with 25 RBI's to chalk up the third-most in program history for a single season, and she had the second-best batting average for Southern Vermont at .408. Bottisti saw limited action during 2016 due to injury, but she still amassed four RBI's on three hits and three walks in just 11 games played; she will look to have an expanded role on the team this season after making a solid recovery.
"Our returning players are really good resources for the newcomers," Gage noted of the program's three familiar faces. "They are always there… whether it be an extra tutor at study hall or a brain to pick about how to manage school and softball at the college level. It is really nice having them for the new players to look up to."
SVC finished 2016 with an overall record of 4-24 and a mark of 3-15 against its NECC opposition. The Mountaineers will look to top each of those in 2017—starting the campaign to do so on Tuesday, March 14 with a doubleheader at Christopher Newport University (5 p.m.). Southern Vermont will then visit Eastern Mennonite University on March 17 for a twin bill before returning to the Northeast for a pair at Skidmore College on March 23.
The Mountaineers are set to begin NECC play in conjunction with their home opener on Saturday, March 25; SVC will host Elms College that day for a doubleheader at Willow Park with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m.
"I want to see us competing in every game," Gage added. "There should not be a game that were are not 'in.' I expect us to win every inning—whether it be with less errors or more hits than the opposing team. If we win the inning, we are in the game and competing."
Becker College, the 2016 NECC Tournament Champion, received seven of the 10 possible first-place votes to take the top spot in the preseason poll.
2017 NECC Softball Preseason Poll
1. Becker – 94 (7)
2. Lesley – 86 (1)
3. Newbury – 79 (1)
4. Regis – 69
5. Elms – 64 (1)
6. Mitchell – 52
7. Bay Path – 40
8. Wheelock – 28
9. Southern Vermont – 21
10. Daniel Webster – 17
(Parentheses denote first-place votes)
– #LetsGoSVC –