SOFTBALL '06: Returns Add Depth, Experience to Staff

Mixing experience with youth will be key for the pitching staff this spring.

Last season the team finished with a 3.75 ERA, just ten complete games to its opponents’ 26, and teams hit for a .281 average against the young staff.

Many of the squad’s woes came as a result of injuries, an issue that led to two freshman starting 23 out of the team’s 38 games.

“What’s good for us this year is that we have two sophomores that did a lot of starting last year as freshmen,” Harvard coach Jenny Allard says. “So they’re coming in with a lot of experience and they’re coming in with a good mentality.”

The two sophomores, Shelly Madick and Amanda Watkins, will again see extensive innings after their performances in a combined 33 appearances last season.

Madick, a rise-ball pitcher who likes to throw off-speed and up and away, proved solid, posting a 9-6 record with a 2.59 ERA on her way to being named honorable mention all-Ivy.

Also strong pitching off-speed, as well as down and away, Watkins added a 4-4 record with a 5.06 ERA.

With a year of experience under their belts, the two are prepared to best last season’s numbers.

“We expect a lot out of Shelly and a lot out of Amanda—and they’re ready,” Allard says.

Senior Michele McAteer will be the lone upperclassman on the staff, which went without her leadership last season.

Pitching just 13 games due to arm trouble, McAteer says she is thrilled to be back in the circle, and is hoping to avoid a recurrence of her injury.

“I spent a lot of the fall just making sure I wasn’t going to get hurt again,” McAteer says.

“It seems to be a recurring injury.”

An effective off-speed, moving-ball pitcher, McAteer specializes in inducing the ground ball by pitching low in the zone.

“She’s not overpowering with speed but she can make people look silly,” Allard says. “So she really mixes it up a lot and uses a lot of movement.”

Despite tallying only a 1-2 record in 2005, McAteer posted an ERA of 1.91, giving up only 8 earned runs in 29.1 innings of work.

“My expectations are high and I’m pretty excited for this year to start,” McAteer says.

The Crimson is also adding some new faces to the staff.

The team has high hopes for freshmen Suzi Cominski and Bailey Vertovez, who will pitch out of the bullpen.

Vertovez was named twice to both the all-Long Island and all-State teams, and holds the West Islip all-time strikeout record with 973 career strikeouts.

“Bailey is better up, she has a good rise-ball, a good curveball and throws the ball in very well too,” Allard says.

The squad will need to utilize different pitchers’ specialties in order to make its unconventional style effective.

Most teams find that a two-starter rotation is the most efficient, but with a schedule that boasts essentially two double headers every weekend until the end of the season, Allard’s eleven years of experience have taught her otherwise.

“To win a conference title with the type of schedule we have, you need three pitchers that are of that starting mentality,” Allard says. “Two is good, three is great.”

Harvard is looking to mold not only starters, but also relievers—and potentially a closer to finish off games with solid three-out appearances.

With a strong veteran core and a new mix of players, the pitching staff has the ability dominate both the Ivy League and competition outside the conference.

“I think we all look strong and we all are going to work really well together,” McAteer says.

—Staff writer Madeleine Shapiro can be reached at mshapiro@fas.harvard.edu.