One of the youngest teams among the 23 varsity sports at Mary Washington College in 2003, the Eagle softball team had a very impressive season. With just two seniors and one junior on the roster, the Eagles tied for first place in the Capital Athletic Conference standings with a 7-1 league mark. In all, Head Coach Dee Conway's squad won nineteen games, including nine straight, which included a win over nationally ranked Salisbury University and conference doubleheader sweeps of York College of PA and Gallaudet University.
The Eagles opened the season with a split of games at the rain-shortened Virginia Wesleyan College Invitational, and then made its annual trek to Orlando, Florida for a series of games at Disney's Wide World of Sports. Upon returning, the Eagles won eleven of thirteen games, including doubleheader sweeps of Wilson College, Virginia Wesleyan College, York College of PA, Gallaudet, and Villa Julie College.
MWC then faced several nationally-ranked opponents in Christopher Newport and Salisbury, splitting a road twin bill with the latter to force a first-place tie in the Capital Athletic Conference standings. The Eagles opened play in the CAC Tournament with a victory of York but fell to Salisbury and the Spartans to finish with a 19-16 record.
The Eagles relied on a pair of young pitchers in 2003, and that duo was more than equal to the challenge. Freshman Abbey Wineland won eleven of the Eagles' victories, while ranking nationally with 7.6 strikeouts per seven innings pitched. She threw her first collegiate no-hitter against Gallaudet University, and was also named to the All-Capital Athletic Conference team as well. First year sophomore Liz Crump joined Wineland in the rotation midway through the season, and won five games, including a no-hitter over Gallaudet.
The Eagle offense was led by senior first baseman Erin Keenan, who batted .351 with 34 hits and 19 RBI. Senior outfielder/catcher Julia Gloukhoff added 28 hits, and became MWC's all-time leading hitter, with 127 career hits. Nicole Casebolt, who saw time at third base and as designated player, batted .366 in twenty games, and freshman shortstop Erin Rantz hit .309 while starting all 35 games. Sophomore outfielder Beth Gibson hit .300 as well. Junior Bevin Gekosky batted .294 with 32 hits as the Eagles' leadoff hitter and sported a .981 fielding average at second base.
As a team, MWC was one of the top defensive teams in the nation, committing just 32 errors all season, with a .968 team fielding percentage, which ranked among the tops in the nation among Division III schools. The rest of the Eagle lineup was impressive as well. Veteran starters Kelly Keenan, Jeanette Moses, and Erin Bundrick all provided solid offense and defense for the 2003 club and will look for further gains in 2004. Andrea Perez, Morgan Taylor, Kalyn Larsen, and Meghan Witt all contributed as freshmen, and will look for increased roles next Spring.
With just two seniors lost to graduation, the 2004 MWC softball team will have a strong veteran leadership flavor, but a new group of recruits are expected to come in and challenge for starting roles as well. If those groups can mesh and build on what the team accomplished this season, the Eagles will again have an excellent chance of returning to the top of the Capital Athletic Conference and challenge for another NCAA Tournament bid in 2004.