Ready To Take The Next Step

It's hard to imagine February as a "spring" month. The snow falls, the temperatures drop and winter gives the region its last true, hearty blast before melting away into the first touches of March. It's a time when winter sports steamroll into their postseason and it's probably fair to assume people aren't thinking about the start of sports played outdoors.

For softball, however, it might as well be the middle of July. The season kicks off in the middle of February, away from the potential of harshness in New England, with hope springing like the flowers that are only a month away.

At Boston College, that means the hope to take the program through to the next level in a league dotted with some of the nation's most elite programs. Coming off of their second 30-win season in three years, the Eagles are looking to build upon their best ACC record and their first-ever winning season in the conference.

"We had a good season last year," head coach Ashley Obrest said. "We had our best-ever ACC finish, and our girls got a taste of success by finishing fourth in the league and going to the ACC Tournament. Having had that taste, we now have a mindset that we really want to finish in that top four (in the league). We want to win the ACC, go to an NCAA Regional and see where we can go and take this program."

In order to properly contextualize those chances, it's important to understand how close the Eagles came to the NCAA Tournament in 2016. They went 12-9 in ACC play, good enough for fourth place. They held opponents to less than three runs per game and they scored the second-most runs in team history. Proving they could be dominant, they swept Georgia Tech, NC State and Syracuse.

They finished third in the ACC in team ERA at 2.81, holding opponents to an ACC second-best .233. The lineup recorded a program-best .287 batting average while scoring a program-second-best 233 runs. But while they had three .300 hitters, they demonstrated their true depth in their ability to drive in runs.

They had seven hitters with 10 or more RBIs, six of which had 20 or more and three of which had 30 or more. Of their regular position players, eight had on-base percentages well over .300, and their balanced attack had nine players who scored 10 or more runs. Owing to their players' versatility to play several positions, it's allows Obrest the chance to mix and match the lineup to best fit the team's needs on any given game.

"We have a lot of depth and versatility," she said. "We're still unsure of some of the positions our players will play because we have so many people who are talented at multiple positions. That's a good problem to have; it used to be that we would have a lineup and position players, and they could only play a particular position and that's it. We have a lot of great kids with great swings and now we can give opponents different looks. We can open up two or three positions to move players around."

The depth isn't limited to the lineup. The pitching staff returns virtually everyone who pitched innings last year, including both Jessica Dreswick and Allyson Frei, who combined for all 30 wins on the roster. Frei, who won 16 games last year, threw 174 innings and struck out 186, third best in the ACC, while Jessica Dreswick won 14 games and held opponents to an ACC fifth-best 2.47 ERA. They'll combine with Jordan Weed and Kendra Friedt, who can break through and gain more innings to complement a more diverse and full pitching staff that also adds freshman Megan Overton.

"Any time you can add a freshman who comes in hungry, it creates a completely different mindset," Obrest said. "This is going to be a new team from what we even had last year, and it creates an atmosphere that makes them hungry to get to the top of the league."

For any team, a team that can return those pieces - and coming off of a fourth-place finish - would have given good cause for preseason recognition. But the ACC's preseason poll returned a predicted regression for the Eagles. Picked to finish sixth in the league, they were 10 points behind fourth place North Carolina, a traditional power that defeated BC in the first round of last year's conference tournament.

As is usually the case, the reason behind it most likely centers on the Eagles as a northern team that needs to travel more than virtually every other top-tier team. BC will play its first 30 games on the road and won't play a home game until March 28. They won't host a conference home series until essentially April, hosting Syracuse in the third league series for three games starting on March 31.

"We definitely have to grind it out," Obrest said. "But it's something the our players have learned to enjoy. They love getting out on the road and we have a great schedule. We're really looking forward to a trip to Arizona; we're going to play Arizona State on a Monday night, under the lights, before a great crowd, and we'll get a great crowd against Arizona (two days earlier)

"Our travel is an important part of recruiting because we try to play in front of family and friends," she continued. "This year, for example, we'll go on a trip to Texas, which is where Tatiana Cortez is from. Every year, the kids ask where we're going, and they get excited as soon as they find out. It does get a little long around spring break time, but we know that's the deal and it's not a huge deal. It teaches us to appreciate when we play at home in March, and it has a different feel for us (to play at home). It's nothing that we think is too tough, and we're excited to get into some good stadiums, play before some good crowds, and get going (on our next step)."

Boston College Athletics

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Tatiana Cortez

Jessica Dreswick

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Jordan Weed

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