Currently enjoying its first year of varsity status, the Dartmouth softball team has nowhere to go but up.
After being a club sport for almost a decade, the team's players are excited about their first varsity season and hope to improve their level of play.
The team has unfunded varsity status for the 1995 season and will begin fully funded varsity status next season.
"We are finally varsity, yet we are not funded yet. We have a budget but we will not have any recruiting money until next year," Softball Coach Hank Tenney said.
Tenney said with the new recruiting budget, the team is destined to become stronger and more talented. "With the recruits coming in next year, we should be able to jump up in competition."
Tenney said he is impressed with his team's hard work and dedication to the sport. "The players have done really well, worked very hard and we expect to win some games this year. The Assistant Coach Dick Blood helps out with the pitchers and does a great job."
After a winless spring trip to Florida, the team enjoyed its first win last Sunday against Holy Cross.
The team, now 3-1, fell to Central Connecticut in a doubleheader on Saturday, 2-1 and 6-1, but then came back and split a Sunday twin bill against Holy Cross, winning the first game, 6-4 but losing the second, 6-1.
"We were happy to get our first win," said co-Captain Jennifer Pitts '95, who plays shortstop. "We're looking forward to improving with each game. We want to compete well with each game, and try to play good softball."
Co-Captain Kim Worboys '95 agreed. "Last weekend we played very well, Christina Maybaum '98 and [co-Captain] Ericka Lee '95 did especially well pitching."
"We're having fun as a team," said Worboys, the team's catcher. "We'll take our lumps but will play as best we can. We want teams to sweat when they play us, even if we do lose."
This weekend the team will take to the road and play Fairfield on Friday, Yale on Saturday and Brown on Sunday.
The team has a good chance in winning Friday, considering Holy Cross, who Dartmouth just defeated, has already beaten Fairfield.
Yale and Brown are, as Tenney puts it, are "a step above" Dartmouth. But the team members remainpositive about their chances this weekend.
"We played Fairfield last year and did very well against them," Pitts said. "It will be interesting to see what will happen this weekend. We hope to come away with some wins."
