With a veteran team that included six front line contributors from 2001' s successful campaign, hopes were high entering the 2002 season for the Mary Washington College softball team. After the team reeled off twenty victories for the first time since 1993, the bar will be again raised next spring, facing a schedule that included in-season tournaments at Bridgewater/Roanoke and Salisbury, as well as a series of games in Myrtle Beach, SC, the 2002 Eagles brought a talented cast to the diamond every game out.

Led by four All-Capital Athletic Conference selections (senior catcher Lisa Chillemi, junior pitcher Jen Rice, sophomore. second baseman Bevin Gekosky, and freshman centerfielder Jeanette Moses), the Eagles again challenged for the Capital Athletic Conference championship. MWC began the year with a doubleheader sweep at Division One Bowie State University, and then swept a twin bill from Randolph-Macon, outscoring its opponents, 73-2. The Eagles would go on to win four more games in Myrtle Beach to stand at 8-3 after eleven games.

After a rough stint against top competition in tournaments at Roanoke and Salisbury, the Eagles took off in doubleheader action. MWC won seven of its next ten games, including a victory over nationally ranked Salisbury University, whom the Eagles defeated in '01 to break the Gulls' six-year conference unbeaten streak. Despite several close losses at the end of the season that kept the Eagles from NCAA Tournament, MWC did achieve the twenty-win plateau for the first time in nine years.

CAC Coach of the Year Dee Conway relied on a lineup that included six everyday players that hit .300 for the season. All-CAC catcher Lisa Chillemi hit .283 with 34 hits and struck out just five times all season. Along with Chillemi, senior Emily Ruby shared. duties behind the plate, playing in fifteen games. The third Eagle lost to graduation is third baseman Lisa Colletti, who hit .280 while playing excellent defensively.

Second baseman Bevin Gekosky leads a strong group of returnees for 2003. Gekosky, an all-conference selection as a middle infielder, hit .328 while starting all 39 games. She also collected thirteen sacrifice hits, while striking out just five times in 119 at-bats. Freshman Jeanette Moses turned in an outstanding rookie season, batting .317 while starting every game, and leading the team with eleven doubles, three triples, and two home runs. She stole ten bases while boasting a team-high .504 slugging percentage.

All-league selection Jen Rice again proved to be one of the top pitchers. in the CAC, posting 18 wins and 166 strikeouts, and a 2.25 ERA. She also had a solid year at the plate, hitting .319 with 18 RBI. The top two hitters in the lineup were again juniors Erin Keenan (team-high .357 average, 27 RBI) and Julia Gloukhoff (.356, team-high 42 hits). Keenan boasted a sterling .984 fielding percentage at first base, while Gloukhoff struck out just three times in 118 at bats. Freshman Erin Bundrick emerged as a top shortstop and hit .333 with two home runs and twenty RBI, and classmate Nicole Casebolt proved valuable both as an infielder and on the pitching rubber, as she hit .394 in fifteen games, and also pitched in nine games.

The softball program at Mary Washington College has improved its win total in each of the. past three seasons. With a roster that includes several top returnees and a positive, team-oriented attitude, the Eagles will look to fly to the top of the CAC standings in 2003 and return to the NCAA Tournament.