The Dartmouth softball team opened its fall season this weekend with a trio of games against the University of Vermont at Sachem Field in Hanover. In an effort to give the pitching rotation some experience, the Big Green played three five-inning abbreviated games without keeping score on Saturday.
While it is typical for collegiate softball teams to have some sort of fall season, fall softball is new to the Dartmouth program. The team has held off playing autumn games in previous years in an effort to accommodate players' D-plan off-terms.
"I've been off for the past two falls, but this year a lot of juniors decided to stay on for the fall, and there's a big freshman class," co-captain Katie Chifcian '09 said
The creation of a fall season allows the team to start practicing soon after players get to campus, instead of getting a starting training in January.
"It signals the real establishment of a program here," co-captain Christy Autin '10 said. "Other teams in the South and Midwest are playing together all year."
"The fall season is an added advantage," Chifcian, an outfielder who did not play Saturday, said. "It's nice to be able to practice as a team instead of individually, and because of the fall we won't feel like we're in a time crunch come January,"
In addition to Chifcian, Dartmouth was missing pitcher Stephanie Trudeau '10 -- who was attending a computer science conference in Denver -- captain Ashley Gleason '09, along with three juniors and one sophomore who are away this term. Although many collegiate softball programs require their players to be on campus training all year, the Dartmouth softball players value the option of being able to take terms off.
"The D -Plan is what drew me to Dartmouth in the first place," Chifcian said. "Coach [Christine] Vogt encourages us to take the opportunities and enjoy them."
What's even more impressive is the Big Green's ability to allow its players this flexibility while remaining extremely competitive. Dartmouth finished second to rival Harvard in the Ivy League's North Division for the past two years.
This year, the squad harbors comparably high expectations.
"We basically have an entire team of starters coming back, and it's our goal to win the Ivies," Autin said. "It's what we're expecting."
On Saturday, Dartmouth sent three young pitchers to the circle. Hilary Barker '12, Devin Lindsay '11 and Kat Hicks '12 all went five innings apiece and looked to have good command for an early season game.
The Big Green will rely mainly on the same trio of pitchers, as well as Trudeau, to round out the rotation for the upcoming season.
Many softball teams will use only one or two pitchers all year, but Dartmouth likes to maintain a diverse rotation. In years past, the Big Green employed a two-person starting pitching staff.
"When you play the same teams two or three times a year, it's nice to be able to give them a different look so they're not always seeing the same pitcher," Vogt said.
While no score was kept for the shortened games against UVM, the contests did not feature a whole lot of offense, as Dartmouth faced talented Catamount hurlers.
In the first game, Catamount senior Alison Daggett silenced the Dartmouth bats, while UVM only managed to scratch out a couple of runs against the freshman Barker. When the Catamounts did manage to score, however, they were aided by several defensive miscues by the Big Green, including some lapses on bunt plays that put several UVM runners on base.
Dartmouth experimented with a young battery on Saturday, with two freshmen pitchers and a sophomore throwing to a group of catchers that included Leigha Clarkson '10 and Molly Khalil '12. Throughout the afternoon, Dartmouth struggled to throw out runners on the bases, allowing the few UVM players who reached base to get into scoring position.
While at times Dartmouth didn't look like it was in mid-season form, it was for good reason, according to the Big Green's head coach.
"We wanted to keep it very casual. Really, all we wanted to do is give our pitchers some work," Vogt said. "It's really only our third practice together."
As the afternoon wore on, Dartmouth bats started to wake up, scratching out their first run on a hard-hit double by Kelly Mallery '11 and a one-run single by Hicks.
As is common in sports like baseball and softball, the Dartmouth hitters seemed to need a couple of innings of live pitching before they started to make more solid contact.
Dartmouth batters will get a chance to see more pitching as the Big Green's fall campaign continues Saturday with a split-team double header at St. Anselm's in Manchester, N.H. Dartmouth faces the home team at 1 p.m. before playing Holy Cross later in the afternoon.
