The 2000 fastpitch softball team at Mary Washington College was one of the youngest ever in the thirteen year history of the program. With just one senior and one junior on the fourteen-player roster, the young Eagles experienced some growing pains while adjusting to the collegiate game, but nonetheless are high for prospects for the 2001 campaign.
Once again, Coach Dee Conway has recruited a top-notch class of newcomers, who will challenge for starring roles immediately. Traditionally one of the top teams in the Capital Athletic Conference, the Eagles have won five league tides since the creation of the CAC in 1991. MWC advanced to the NCAA Division III Softball Tournament in 1992.
Heading the list of returnees for Conway is All-Capital Athletic Conference catcher/designated hitter Julia Gloukhoff. Gloukhoff batted .325 with team highs of seven doubles and ten RBI a year ago and struck out just once in eighty at-bats. The Eagles will also rely heavily on sophomore Jen Rice, who led the pitching staff in victories .and ERA a year ago, striking out 89 in 152.1 innings. Rice was also productive at the plate, as she hit .284 for the season.
A healthy 2001 will be priority one for first baseman Erin Keenan, who batted .302 with four doubles in 43 at bats as a freshman. Keenan showed flashes of brilliance defensively at first base, with a knack of digging short hops out of the dirt. She ended the season without an error in 134 total chances. Starting infielders Julie Kolakowski, Ginny Street, and Lisa Chillemi will be looked upon to continue to gel inro a solid defensive unit, while also providing punch at the plate.
Kolakowski pasted 19 hits while providing to be very reliable in the field, as she starred all thirty games at shortstop. Street emerged as the team's starting third baseman as a freshman last spring; batting .242 and adding solid play on defense at the hot corner. Chillemi also started every game, and successfully played several different positions. She batted .264 with 24 hits, while tapping six doubles on the season. Junior catcher Emily Ruby also returns for 2001. Ruby hit .250 a year ago and made just one error defensively behind' the plate, fielding to a .979 average: This unit will prove to be a strong nucleus in 2001, if the Eagles are to again compete for the Capital Athletic Conference crown.