With half of this year’s roster consisting of freshman players, the Columbia softball team has focused its young players all season. Starting pitcher Maggie Johnson emerged as the ace of the staff, finishing fourth in the Ivy League with a 9-10 record and 119 2/3 innings pitched. Outfielder Jackie Ecker hit a team-high nine doubles and was second on the team with 148 at-bats, most of which came as the leadoff hitter. Anne Marie Skylis stepped in behind the plate to replace Valerie Smith and handled the responsibility of being the team’s everyday catcher.
However, the contributions of the team’s upperclassmen were also invaluable to the Lions this season.
Junior shortstop Keli Leong continued her brilliant hitting, leading the team for the second straight year at .348. She has accumulated at least 50 hits each year and compiled a .339 batting average (157-463) in her first three seasons at Columbia.
Sophomore first baseman Danielle Pineda compiled a .313 batting average, a remarkable improvement over her .201 average last season. The combination of Leong and Pineda in the lineup should bode well for the Lions’ offense in 2009.
Ciji Rich ended her collegiate career on a high note by improving her hitting as well. The senior posted a career-high .306 batting average in her final season with the team.
On the other hand, it was the Lions’ pitching staff that prevented them from winning against their divisional opponents. Johnson started the season well by throwing a pair of shutouts and striking out seven in two starts against Ivy League north opponents Brown and Yale.
Columbia jumped out to a 3-1 record, its best start in the softball program’s history. However, these performances did not carry over to the rest of the team’s Ivy League games against their division opponents Princeton, Cornell, and Penn. Columbia’s starters combined to allow 107 earned runs in these games.
Following their March 30 win against the Yale, the Lions lost the remainder of their conference games, starting with a 5-0 loss to the Bulldogs later that afternoon. After starting the year with a 12-13 record, the Lions finished the season 3-20 to finish 15-33, their worst record since 2000.
In order to improve upon their seventh-place standing in 2008, the Lions must find a way to improve their pitching or they will continue to watch contributions from their offense remain in vain.