The Big Green (1-3, 0-0 Ivy) was one of 25 teams to compete in the pooled play tournament, which took place in Woodstock, Ga., at the Twin Creek Softball Complex.
Dartmouth's trip to Atlanta had a rocky start. The Big Green was stuck in Boston Thursday night after a heavy blanket of snow fell on New England. The team eventually arrived in Atlanta safely, but the squad's luggage did not. Dartmouth's opening game against Gardner Webb had to be rescheduled from Friday, March 2 at 10 a.m. to Saturday at 9 a.m.
Head coach Christine Vogt insisted that the weather delays and lost luggage did not influence the team's play.
"We talk a lot about controllable and uncontrollable circumstances, and that was completely out of our hands and the team handled it perfectly," Vogt said. "It didn't affect the players at all."
The Big Green won its season opener, defeating Georgia Southern 4-0 on Friday evening.
Co-captain Kelly Fry '07 hit two doubles helping the Big Green score in the first and third innings. Stephanie Trudeau '09 struck out 10 batters. Georgia Southern threatened in the third by loading the bases, but Trudeau struck out the next three consecutive batters to shut the Eagles down.
"Stephanie Trudeau pitched two outstanding games for us. She worked very hard in the off season and it has shown on the mound," Vogt said.
Dartmouth did not fare as well on Saturday, dropping all three contests on the second day of the Buzz Classic. The Big Green lost the rescheduled game against Gardner Web 12-4, lost the second 11-10 to Boston University and then fell to Iowa, 1-0.
In the rescheduled game against Gardner Webb, the Bulldogs set the pace in the first inning, scoring five runs. Dartmouth responded with four runs in the second, but Gardner Webb added seven more runs to secure the win over Dartmouth. Nikki Yee '10 recorded her first hit for the Big Green with a two-RBI double.
Yee was not the only freshman who contributed to the games this weekend. Vogt is excited about her young team and was pleased that the youngsters were able to jump into competition.
The addition of freshmen to the Big Green's team added depth to the roster, she said.
"We are enjoying a depth of talent we didn't have in the last few years. Last year our roster had 14, this year we have 19 making us an overall stronger team," Vogt said.
Dartmouth's second game of the day against Boston University turned into a back-and-forth battle that the Terriers ultimately came from behind to win. The Big Green took an early 2-0 lead and held BU scoreless through the first two innings. The Terriers got on the board with a home run in the third, and the lead oscillated between Dartmouth and BU until, down 10-9 in the top of the seventh, the Terriers made their move, scoring two runs on a single and a fielder's choice with two outs.
Dartmouth's game on Saturday against Iowa turned into a pitcher's duel, with only four hits in the game. Trudeau pitched another impressive game, holding the Hawkeyes to only three hits and striking out five.
Unfortunately, one of those three hits was a home run in the third inning that marked the only scoring of the game.
Fry had the Big Green's only hit of the game
Overall, Vogt was unhappy with the results of the weekend, but felt her team benefited from the games.
"We are obviously not satisfied with a 1-3 start, but we got real game experience for our freshmen and got to see how what we have been doing in practice is translating to the game," Vogt said.
"The purpose of a lot of the early season games is to gain experience and fine tune things. The most important games in our season are the ones in the Ivy League," Vogt added.
The Big Green will play South Florida, Ball State and Wisconsin in the University of South Florida's Speedline Invitational over spring break. Dartmouth's first conference game will be against Columbia on Saturday, March 31 in Hanover.
