Season Preview: Big Green Have Sights Set High in 2020

HANOVER, N.H. – Dartmouth softball has been hard at work this offseason preparing for opening day on Friday, February 21 against Virginia Tech at the Charleston Classic. Second-year head coach Jen Williams returns eight seniors, three juniors, six sophomores and five freshmen.

2019 RECAP
The Big Green finished 12-27 and 10-11 in the Ivy League after winning seven of their last eight league games in 2019. Dartmouth came away with a sweep of Princeton on the final weekend of the season and had series wins at Yale, Cornell and Brown.

COACHING STAFF
Williams returns for her second season at the helm and is the seventh head coach in program history. Joining her this season are Amy Meyer and Tim Homan. Meyer was hired in August after spending the last five years as the head coach at Schreiner University in Kerrville, Texas. Homan completed the staff in September and most recently served as the hitting coach and recruiting coordinator at Georgia Southern University from 2017 to 2019.

SCHEDULE
Dartmouth's 44-game slate begins at the Charleston Classic on Friday. The Big Green will play five games in South Carolina, five in Florida and eight games in California.

The first of 14 home games begin on March 21-22 for a three-game series against Columbia. Dartmouth will also play in Hanover against Yale (Apr. 4-5), Maine (Apr. 15), Cornell (Apr. 18-19) and Brown (Apr. 25-26).

Road contests take Dartmouth to Penn (Mar. 28-29), Boston College (Apr. 8), defending Ivy League champion Harvard (Apr. 11-12), Merrimack (Apr. 22) and the regular season closes at Princeton (May 2-3).

RETURNING INFIELDERS
The middle-infield duo of Micah Schroder, the reigning Ivy League Player of the Year, and Honorable Mention selection Calista Almer highlight the returners for Dartmouth. At second base last year, Schroder set program records in batting average (.473) and RBIs (40), she also had the second-best slugging percentage in a single season (.786). At shortstop, Almer was second on the team in batting average (.350) and tied for the team lead in triples (3) and stolen bases (11), Almer is the programs all-time leader in career stolen bases (28).

Seniors Tessa Grossman, Tatyanah Castillo and Loghan Thomas along with sophomores Bryce West and Kira La Scola bring experience to the infield as well. Grossman started 32 games in 2019 and had 12 RBIs, a home run, three doubles and two triples. Castillo and West each hit a home run last season, while Thomas finished the year with a .250 batting average.

RETURNING OUTFIELDERS
Sophomore Billie McFadyen saw the most action of any returning outfielder, appearing in 30 games mostly in left field, before a late-season injury cut her year short. McFadyen hit .314 with nine RBIs, two home runs, four doubles, 19 runs scored and eight stolen bases.

Seniors Morgan Ebow, Jade Bravo and Sophie Ausmus will see time as well. Last season, Ebow batted .207 with six hits including two doubles, six RBIs and seven runs scored. Bravo appeared in 23 games, mainly in right field and stole three bases. Sophomore Emily Lipsett is also back, she was mainly used as a pinch runner and hit .250 during her freshman campaign.

RETURNING PITCHERS
Junior Heather Turner and sophomores Madie Augusto and Brooke Plonka make up the pitching staff in 2020.

Turner appeared in 16 games last year and finished with three wins and a save. Augusto led the team with 55 strikeouts over 98.0 innings in 30 appearances. Plonka was used mainly as a relief pitcher and was second in the Ivy League with four saves.

RETURNING CATCHERS
Juniors Schae Nelson and Abby Shipley will be behind the plate this season and add an extra layer of experience for the relatively young pitching staff.

Nelson appeared in 38 games in 2019 and hit .257 with 13 RBIs, six doubles, three triples, two home runs and was tied for the team lead with 11 stolen bases. Shipley finished the year with a .278 batting average with three RBIs, a double and a home run.

CLASS OF 2023
The Big Green added five freshmen to the roster. Regan Weekly won the Tennessee Gatorade Softball Player of the Year her senior year of high school and is listed as a utility player. Kate Farren and Maria Angelino will fight for spots in the infield. Maddie Katona will see time in the outfield and Walker Wicklund adds depth at catcher.

Schedules