Softball Looking to Defend Ivy League Crown in 2015

HANOVER, N.H — It has been 293 days since the Dartmouth softball team raised the Ivy League Trophy to the roaring crowd in Hanover. For the first time in 20 seasons, the team won the Ivy League Championship over Penn and qualified for the NCAA Tournament in Tempe, Arizona, setting up a date with Arizona State and San Diego State.

Since then, former head coach Rachel Hanson accepted the same position at Stanford, exiting Dartmouth after four seasons during which she guided the program to back-to-back Ivy League Championship Series. Enter Tennessee standout Shannon Doepking, who made pit stops as an assistant at Stony Brook and Fairleigh Dickinson before taking over at Division III member Amherst.

Doepking is fortunate that Dartmouth returns all but two starters from last season, including the Ivy League Player of the Year in junior Morgan McCalmon and two-time Pitcher of the Year in senior Kristen Rumley. McCalmon burst on the scene, and by season's end walked away with the best single-season batting average in program history at .389. Not only was McCalmon a star in the batter's box, but she also made up one of the most lethal 1-2 pitching rotations in the Northeast with Rumley. The duo is expected once again to carry the team inside the circle and rack up a lot of innings.

Rumley will go down as the best pitcher in program history when she rides off into the sunset at the end of the season. The Katy, Texas, native already owns program records in wins (46), strikeouts (533), appearances (95) and innings pitched (495.1), and last season set a number of single-season records — innings pitched (197.0), appearances (37) and strikeouts (197). Not only is she a force on the rubber, but an accomplished hitter. After three seasons, Rumley is second in Big Green history with a .337 batting average with 120 hits in 360 at-bats.

McCalmon was instituted as the primary designated player when Rumley took the ball, but was also the second starter posting a 10-5 record with a 2.55 earned run average. The Ivy League Player of the Year also grabbed two spots on the All-Ivy Team as a first-team selection at DP and a second-team honoree at pitcher. McCalmon secured three Ivy League Player of the Week awards with her .389 average to go with 27 RBIs.

Sophomore Ashley Sissel is a hard-throwing pitcher who went 1-4 in 17 appearances and 37.2 innings pitched. Sissel picked up her first collegiate win over Portland State in mid-March. In her 17 appearances, Sissel allowed more than four runs just twice and struck out 43 batters.

The pedigree of success has always been what surrounds the circle, and the Big Green finished as one of the better defensive squads in the NCAA with a .972 fielding percentage.

Junior Katie McEachern will once again command prime real estate at shortstop. The hard-hitting, San Diego native is the all-time home run queen with 18 jacks in two seasons. McEachern has led the team in each of the two last seasons with 10 and eight homers, respectively. She finished second behind McCalmon with a .333 batting average and also set the single-season doubles record last year with 15. If McEachern can duplicate her past success, she will be on pace to take over the doubles crown set by Sarah Damon '02, who swatted 41 two-baggers. Not only is McEachern third all-time in career batting average at .332, she also ranks ninth all-time with 102 hits and ninth with 68 RBIs.

Continuing on the left side of the infield, classmate Kelsey Miller had a tremendous sophomore campaign, finishing third in hitting with a .324 batting average, third in hits (44) and fifth in RBIs (21). The Mansfield, Texas, star was also third on the squad in slugging percentage (.493) and on-base percentage (.391). During the early part of the season, Miller picked up a pair of Ivy League Player of the Week awards, which helped move the team during a tough non-conference schedule. She also proved to be one of Dartmouth's better hitters with runners in scoring position. She sits ninth all-time hitting .302 with 85 career hits in 281 at bats. At third base, Miller is expected to have a solid season at the hot corner where she had 67 assists.

Shifting to the opposite side of the infield, sophomore Maddie Damore made 46 starts at first base as a rookie and did a fine job with 329 putouts and just three errors for a .991 fielding percentage. At the plate, Damore will be remembered for her three home runs and seven RBIs against Yale on April 12, the best single-game outing for a Big Green hitter. This season she will look to improve on her .230 average, five home runs and 22 RBIs.

At second base, sophomore Alyssa Jorgensen is slated to take over for graduated senior Kara Curosh, whose two-run home run in the fifth inning of the third game of the Ivy League Championship Series began the Big Green rally from a 3-0 deficit. Jorgensen was used primarily as a utility infielder and made 14 appearances with nine starts.

In the outfield, Dartmouth returns senior center fielder Megan Averitt and sophomore left fielder Chloe Madill. Averitt will once again be used as a slap hitter after batting .265 with 27 hits. Madill made an impact in the top portion of the lineup and hit .293 with four home runs and 21 RBIs.

Last season Karen Chaw started in right field and now is looking to move back to her customary spot behind the plate where she played during her developmental years. Junior Brianna Lohmann, and freshmen Tiffany Dyson and Lourlin Lara will all vie for time in right field. Lohmann made nine starts there last season but was primarily a defensive replacement for Chaw in late-game situations.

Behind the plate, a position that Doepking knows very well from her playing days, the Big Green head coach will have the opportunity to choose a new starter with the graduation of mainstay Alex St. Romain. Junior Kathy Dzienkowski made 12 starts a year ago (with the team posting an 8-4 record in those contests) and will battle with Chaw and freshman Claire Bird for the lead battery spot. With Chaw, the Big Green have a power-hitting catcher, something the squad didn't have with the defensive-oriented St. Romain calling the shots. As a rookie, Chaw hit .277 with seven home runs and 29 RBIs. She was a two-time Ivy League Rookie of the Week selection and a player who grew as the season progressed.

After only losing two players to graduation in Curosh and St. Romain, it was important to bring in a larger freshman class to keep the tradition alive of developing underclassmen into mature student-athletes before taking over the reins. With Dyson, Lara and classmate Brittany Mann set to battle for time in the outfield and Bird behind the plate, pitcher Breanna Ethridge and infielder Madison Smith will also get looks at their respective positions.

Dartmouth's non-conference schedule is one of the toughest slates in program history. The team will open the season at the USF Wilson DeMarini Tournament Feb. 20-22 and will take on No. 16/17 Auburn, Marshall and host South Florida. The following weekend, the Big Green will set sail for the Longhorn state and the Texas Invitational featuring Lamar, Texas Southern and host Texas. The final southern weekend will take place Mar. 6-8 at the Holy City Showdown at the College of Charleston where Dartmouth will meet Liberty, Loyola Chicago, South Carolina State, Jacksonville and College of Charleston.

The remainder of the non-conference schedule will feature Mid-Atlantic and Northeast foes. Ivy League play begins with a rematch of the championship series when Dartmouth travels to Penn on Mar. 27, while the home portion of the season begins against Princeton on April 3. Dartmouth will host the Tiger, Cornell, Brown and Harvard in the home league games. Should the Big Green win the division title again, the trip to the 2015 Ivy League Championships Series would take place May 2-3.

Schedules