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BY BEN RAPHEL

In print | May 1, 2008

The Swarthmore softball team split its regular season finale with Haverford on Saturday and is now preparing for the Centennial Conference playoffs. The Garnet secured its third straight berth to the conference playoffs on April 18 with a 4-0 shutout win over Franklin & Marshall College.

Last Saturday, the Garnet traveled to Haverford, having just lost two days earlier to nationally ranked Rowan University by the score of 7-0. The Haverford doubleheader was not only a competition against Swarthmore’s fiercest rival, but also a chance to play against another conference playoff team.

The first game against the Fords was an instant classic. For nine scoreless innings, Kathryn Riley ’10 waged an intense pitching battle with Haverford pitcher Becky Garibotto. Finally, in the top of the tenth, Krista Scheirer ’11 hit the game-winning single, scoring Kira Kern ’11. The Garnet held the Fords scoreless in the bottom of the inning, holding on for the 1-0 victory. Each pitcher only gave up six hits in the game, while Riley posted 11 strikeouts in the winning effort.

“The fact that Haverford is our sister school and one of our main rivals helped us persevere through the ten innings,” Christine Sendelsky ’09 said in an e-mail. “We came out ready to play in the first game, our team was fired up and full of energy.”

In game two of the Haverford doubleheader, the Garnet scored first when Sendelsky singled to score Monica Cody ’10 in the top of the first.

However, Haverford answered quickly and tied the score in the bottom of the inning. The Fords then scored six runs in the bottom of the fourth, and despite a valiant comeback effort, Swarthmore never could recover. In the next inning, Sendelsky hit a two-run double, while Melissa Emmerson ’11 had an RBI single to help close the gap. An RBI double by Katie Gold ’08 erased the deficit, but these crucial hits would not be enough for the Garnet, as the team fell short to the Fords, 7-5. Al Zelaski ’09 gave up eight hits over six innings of work in the losing effort.

The split at Haverford left Swarthmore with a 21-16 record for the season, along with a 10-6 record in the Centennial Conference. This record gives the Garnet the fourth and final spot in the conference playoffs this weekend. The playoffs are a two-day, double elimination tournament that will take place at top-seeded Ursinus College.

The Garnet will play its first playoff game against the host Bears, starting around noon on Saturday. The team will be looking for revenge against an Ursinus team that shut out the Garnet twice earlier this season.

“We’re ready to take the home team down in their own territory,” Kristin Caspar ’09 said. “Ursinus is our biggest competitor right now.”

“We are a very resilient team, and we have the talent to beat Ursinus. We need to put the ball in play, on the ground instead of in the air, which makes for easy outs, and capitalize on their mistakes,” Sendelsky said. “We need to make the adjustment to hit the outside pitch because that’s where [Ursinus pitcher] Lauren Davis will be putting the ball all day.”

The other two opponents that Swarthmore may face in the conference tournament will be second-seeded Haverford and third-seeded Dickinson College. The Garnet split its doubleheaders earlier this season against both the Fords and the Red Devils.

“To win conferences we need to go into every game confident in ourselves, our teammates and coaches. We need to know that at the end of the day we’re a great team, but we need to be that great team,” Sendelsky said.

“No matter who we play this weekend, it should be a high-energy game,” Caspar said.

Despite what happens at the conference tournament this weekend, this season has been very successful for Swarthmore softball. The Garnet has once again reached the Centennial playoffs, along with competing against some tough nationally-ranked opponents. In addition, a talented corps of freshmen made an impact at the plate this season, and with only one graduating senior on this year’s squad, the Garnet should again be a force in future seasons.

“I feel fortunate to be a member of such a talented, well-rounded team,” Sendelsky said. “I just hope this year we can take the next step and be in the championship game, coming out of it the championship team, and I believe that this year, more than ever, we are capable of doing so because our current team is the most talented team we’ve had so far.”

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