Softball
Joe Meloni
When the season began, the Massachusetts softball team sat in the No. 23 spot of NFCA Preseason poll. Offensive struggles, shoddy defense and plain bad luck forced voters to leave the Minutewomen off their top-25 ballot completely.
At this juncture in the season, the polls have very little bearing on the team's morale. But the national ranking did provide great publicity for a program overdue for some exposure.
The Minutewomen have a chance to leap back into the polls with a big performance this weekend. They take on the No. 20 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, a team that defeated the Minutewomen, 3-0, on Feb. 24.
These early season tournaments provide a barometer for how the team will fare in postseason play should the Maroon and White make it that far. Remember, the Minutewomen were just one game away from reaching the Women's College World Series last season and return six starters in the field and last year's Atlantic 10 Pitcher of the Year sophomore Brandice Balschmiter.
The fact that the pollsters even consider the Minutewomen for the national rankings means a great deal. Northern programs rarely compete with teams in the south and west. Gaining that much in the way of national prominence will help the head coach Elaine Sortino land top recruits in the future.
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