Rookies Step Up to the Plate

From point guard Siyani Chambers’s All-Ivy success for the men’s basketball team to Jerry Chang helping the men’s fencing team to its seventh Ivy League title, there is no doubt that the Class of 2016 has had a huge impact on Harvard sports so far this year.

The theme of freshmen success appears poised to continue, as the softball team enters Ivy League play this week with several rookies playing key roles for the squad.

Of the 19 players listed on the Harvard roster, six are freshmen. Pitchers Jamie Halula and Morgan Groom, outfielder Zoe Galindo, catcher Rachel Halperin, and utility players Haley Davis and Alyssa Siegmann make up the class.

After graduating key players from last season, such as pitcher Rachel Brown and infielder Jane Alexander, the squad entered its non-conference schedule with plenty of unknowns.

Though the team went 7-12 in non-conference play, Harvard can point to the efforts of some of its freshmen as bright spots going into Ivy competition.

Galindo, Halula, and Groom all received significant playing time throughout the first part of the season and have responded well to the pressures of college softball.

“I think Zoe, Morgan, and Jamie have all done a great job of not playing like freshmen,” junior captain Shelbi Olson says. “When you start playing Division I softball and you haven’t played at that level before, it is obviously hard confidence-wise. I think they have done a really good job of going out there and playing like they know they are good players.”

Galindo has become a starting outfielder for the Crimson, posting a .290 batting average so far this season to go along with a .944 fielding percentage.

“Zoe has done a really good job of just focusing on her role,” Olson says. “She has taken the mentality of being the best player she can be and just focusing on her hitting and her fielding. She has gotten a lot of playing time because she has worked so hard and proved herself.”

Groom and Halula have pitched both as starters and relievers this season. The two freshman lead the team in innings pitched with 50 and 42.2, respectively.

Halula has started five games for Harvard and has appeared in relief in nine more. She is currently 2-3 on the year with a 4.59 ERA. Groom, meanwhile, has started seven games and worked in relief in five others. She is 3-5 on the year with 2.24 ERA.

“Jamie and Morgan have been absolutely killing it,” Galindo says. “They came into this season knowing they were going to have to step up and have a big impact as freshmen, and they have done a great job working on getting better every day and being a big part of the team effort.”

With two freshmen and sophomore Gabrielle Ruiz as the main pitchers for the Crimson this season, players say coach Jenny Allard has emphasized the importance of a total-staff effort.

“The team has a mentality that all of the pitchers are important and that we are going to use them however we need to use them to get wins,” Olson says. “The entire pitching staff has really been focused on a team mentality and they all have gotten a lot of pitching time. It is really a mentality of always being ready to warm up and go in, and Morgan and Jamie have done a really good job adjusting to that and really making it work.”

The transition from high school to college can be difficult, juggling schoolwork, athletics, and time management. According to Olson, softball is no different, as freshmen must not only adjust to better competition on the field but also to a more difficult balance of academics and sport.

“I think the biggest change for freshmen is learning the correct balance between school and softball,” Olson says. “We have all been athletes and have all been students throughout our lives, but coming to Harvard and combining both at the highest level is a very unique situation. As upperclassmen, we just try to make them feel more comfortable and explain to them how Harvard works.”

While the balance of playing softball for Harvard can be demanding, Galindo already believes the experience is well worth her time.

“I couldn’t imagine a bigger transition than the change from high school softball to college softball,” Galindo says. “When you are playing for a college it is such a more powerful experience than when you are playing for a high school. Playing for Harvard and against such good competition makes everything so much more rewarding.”

Though it may be easy to focus on individual performances and statistics, the team stresses the importance of playing as a unit and succeeding as a group.

“The team is so close and so strong and it is just a really tight unit,” Galindo says. “Our coach always says, ‘Play for the name on the front, not the number on the back [of your jersey],’ and I feel like we really take that to heart.”

Allard’s focus has clearly had an impact on the mentality of her players. Galindo is quick to credit much of her success so far this season to the support of both the team’s upperclassmen and her freshmen classmates.

“The veterans on our team and the coaching staff have helped our freshman unit to grow and improve,” Galindo says. “From our practices to our long workouts in the weight room, they have been so supportive and have shown such faith in us from day one.”

Though conditioning drills and practices started over seven months ago in September, the Crimson’s season started March 1 in Boca Raton, Fla. For many freshmen, the extra practice in the fall was important in their transition to the college level.

“[By starting in September] we have all those months of practice before we start playing,” Olson explains. “The freshmen have really worked hard since day one of practice, and they are always giving a 100-percent effort in working to get better. That hard work in practice has propelled them to where they are now, and they all have made a lot of improvements.”

The offseason practice schedule was especially useful for Groom and Halula as adjusting from high school to college hitters is a tall task.

“I think the most apparent change is the quality of batters,” Groom agrees. “To make a smooth transition takes a lot of focus and determination to get better during the off-season, physically and mentally. Guidance from the upperclassmen has definitely made it a lot easier.”

As Harvard looks towards its Ivy League schedule that begins against Penn on March 29, the team hopes its tough non-conference competition has prepared the freshmen for conference play.

“The [non-conference schedule] really showed us what we can do against big competition,” Galindo says. “While we may have lost some games, our coach explained that she challenges us for a reason and that it will prepare us for our conference games. We have worked so hard throughout the fall and preseason, and I think we are putting things together and really becoming a force.”