No-Hittin' is a Habit

Sophomore pitcher Rachel Brown has made quite the name for herself in her two years on the Ivy softball circuit. On Sunday, she put another feather in her already-decorated cap when she pitched a no-hitter for the second-consecutive weekend.

You can read all about Brown’s performance—which garnered her Athlete of the Week honors from The Crimson’s sports staff—here. But in the meantime, The Back Page spoke with Brown and her teammates, and here’s what they had to say about the standout sophomore.

Brown on her catcher, senior Jessica Pledger:

“It’s not possible without Jessica Pledger behind the plate, because I think catcher is the most underappreciated position on the field. She blocks everything. I’m completely confident throwing any pitch—she had a great game behind the plate.”

Pledger on what Brown means to the defense:

“Rachel’s a huge part of our team, and a pitcher in general is a big part—pitchers coming up and giving us a solid performance. And when she does that consistently…it gives us motivation to be as strong a defense as possible behind her and work as hard as she does.”

Senior Dana Roberts, the team’s student-assistant pitching coach, on Brown’s team mentality:

“She’s also a huge team player, which is kind of rare for a pitcher of her caliber…Rachel is always willing to give everything she’s got to help the team get a win.”

Brown on her strengths:

“Dana has been working with me on getting ahead on batters, so throwing the first strikes. That is something that I really tried to work on today, and I thought I did a pretty good job. I think as a team we do a really good job of bearing down.”

Roberts on Brown’s ability to avoid the sophomore slump:

“Your freshman year, everything’s so new, and you’re just kind of going out there and throwing. She did feel a lot of the pressure coming off such a great season last year, and rather than caving under that pressure and rather than having a sophomore slump, it just made her work harder…Having a season under her belt, having that experience and maturity has helped her stay strong and be a little more consistent than she was last year.”