Female Breakout Player of the Year, Runner-Up: Emily Gusse, Softball

In a year of rebuilding for Harvard softball, several players have stepped up to show that despite the talent that the team lost this season, the future is looking bright for the Crimson.

Emily Gusse is one of those players whose marked improvement has earned the attention of those on and off the team. Much of the improvement has come in the infield, where this year Gusse has moved from second base to shortstop, a position she played throughout high school.

“I approached it a little differently,” Gusse said. “I played second base my freshman year and that was a bit of a challenge for me because I’d never played there before. I got the opportunity to play shortstop this year and I kind of just went in all-or-nothing and had a really good year.”

A strong work ethic and positive mentality helped contribute to her success.

“Her mindset was the key to her success,” Harvard coach Jenny Allard said. “She worked a lot on her mental game, especially recovering after she made a mistake. She set strong goals for herself that she wanted to start at shortstop with the graduation of Jane Alexander. She still has areas where she can grow and where we are expecting her to grow [but] she’s emerged as a great contact hitter.”

On top of the improvement in fielding, Gusse has seen her hitting numbers more than double in her sophomore season. She finished the season with 11 runs, 24 RBIs, and a .290 batting average, a huge improvement over the four runs and six RBIs she posted last year.

Several of her runs came at vital points in the season, in a number of conference games that helped keep the Crimson’s in contention for the North Division until the end of the season. Gusse had one run and four RBIs in Harvard’s matchups against Yale to help win all four games. A run and an RBI in a pivotal game three against Dartmouth helped the Crimson come tantalizingly close to keeping its playoff hopes alive, although Harvard ended up losing the contest, 5-4.

Gusse is keeping optimistic about the future of the team, and as a sophomore knows there is much more time for improvement.

“If you make a mistake you’re going to pick yourself up and keep going,” Gusse said. “I feel like I worked really, really hard and gave it all that I had and got the result that I wanted.”

—Staff writer Alex L. Saich can be reached at asaich@college.harvard.edu. Follow him on Twitter at @Sensaichonal.