The women's softball team returned to Hanover Saturday after a week of practice and competition in Florida.
Under the guidance of new Head Coach Steffany Bender the women played in eight games during the week, finishing with an overall record of 1-7.
The team first met with Niagara on March 18 and posted a 0-7 loss. In its second match-up of the day, the women lost 1-13 to Tennessee.
March 19 the women were pitted against teams from LeMoyne and West Chester. Despite a home run from Bess Tortolani '98, the women fell to LeMoyne 5-7. In their second game of the trip, they lost in a shutout to West Chester 0-22.
The women returned to the field on March 21 after a day off from competition and faced LeMoyne and West Chester once again.
Dartmouth mirrored its performance from the first game against LeMoyne and finished with a score of 5-7 in favor of LeMoyne.
Liz Teutsch '99 had a homerun as well as three RBI's, going three-for-four on the afternoon.
The team demonstrated marked improvement, however, against West Chester. The Big Green narrowed the margin of victory from 22 runs to two runs, finishing up with the same score as its last game, 5-7.
Teutsch had a stellar game again, hitting two-for-three on the afternoon with a triple.
With a record of 0-6 the women went in to their last day of competition March 22.
An early 5-13 loss to LeMoyne did not dampen the players' enthusiasm and they went on to defeat MacAlester 6-5 for their first victory of the season.
Trailing 0-5 in the bottom of the sixth inning the women carried out a six-run rally that brought them to an eventual victory.
This rally began when Susan Chesley '99 singled in Tortolani.
Gretchen Saegh '99 followed up Chelsey's effort with a double that cleared the bases.
Teutsch rounded out the Big Green's turn around with a two-run home run, leaving the final score at 6-5.
Christina Maybaum '98, Erin Rath '98 and Raili Cook '98 start on the mound for the Big Green.
Cook went the distance during the team's 6-5 victory against MacAlester. She gave up only four earned runs.
Although they have been training all year, the spring break competition marked the first games for the team.
Throughout Fall and Winter terms the women lifted and practiced under the leadership of co-Captains Karen Hersey '96 and Lauren McQuade '97. Official practices with Coach Bender began February 2.
Two freshmen and a sophomore have provided the team's consistency so far this year.
Teutsch has led the team in hits so far this season with a .500 average, two home runs and six RBI's. She is followed by fellow freshman Chesley, who has a .400, and Tortolani, with a .320 average and seven RBI's.
According to Teutsch, Coach Bender has made it her goal to play the best nine people in each game. "She's going to play to win," Teutsch said.
At the beginning of the week in Florida the team felt it lacked the cohesiveness necessary to pull together a victory.
"Starting off we were not a cohesive group. We were 16 different players," Teutsch said.
At the time of the MacAlester match "we had our act together and played as a team. It was so awesome. I was really glad we won our last game," Teutsch said.
She said that the goal of the players is to "get the feeling where we know who is next to and who is behind" us at all times during a game.
The team itself is young, including seven freshmen and only one senior. This season marks softball's second season as a varsity sport.
Part of the intensity of this season's team comes from the coach.
Bender "is an intense coach," Teutsch said. "She's definitely goal-oriented. She doesn't let us get off easy. With our progress we're definitely getting where we want to be," she said.
The team looks to carry its improvement to its next match at Rhode Island this Saturday.
