After Knocking On Door, Softball "Hungry" To Kick It Down
February 07, 2019 | Softball, #ForBoston Files
BC kicks 2019 off this weekend with the Texas Classic.
Ashley Obrest knows a little something about knocking on doors. Her Boston College softball team spent the last four years winning 30 games, finishing well enough in the Atlantic Coast Conference to enter into NCAA Tournament discussions. Each year, though, the door seemed to shut right as it appeared to open, generating bitter postseason disappointment without a single berth in a national regional.
So Obrest had a single message for her team as it left Chestnut Hill for Texas to start its 2019 season this weekend: Stop knocking on the door, and kick it all the way down.
"We use the word 'hungry,'" Obrest said. "You can't sit back and talk about how close we were because when people are watching regionals, they're not talking about teams that were close. We've finished third or tied for fourth the last few years, so we've been knocking at that door. But now is the time for us to turn the corner and tell everyone that we're not going to be close anymore."
If that sounds determined, it's because Obrest knows the Eagles are staring down tempered external expectations. The rest of the college softball world is expecting a drop off for a team with nine freshmen and a blank slate pitching staff. The preseason ACC Coaches Poll dropped BC to ninth place overall and fifth in its six-team division. It's a prognostication that would have the Eagles drop two slots in the Atlantic Division and finish ahead of only NC State, a team that, with Virginia, began sponsoring the sport in 2018.
"Some people are automatically counting us out just by looking at the roster, and you could see that in the ACC preseason poll," Obrest said. "It didn't go over well because it was an eye-opener to say that people might not be thinking much about us."
It's an internal standard set by the roster's foundation. BC returns players like Carly Severini and Lexi DiEmmanuele, both of whom have serious softball resumes.. Emme Martinez nearly hit .300 last season en route to a first-team all-conference selection, and both Allyson Moore and Olivia Markopoulos give the Eagles talent and flexibility.
That is of little consolation to many who know the departure of Jessica Dreswick blows a hole in the Boston College pitching staff, where only two players return in 2019. Senior Kendra Friedt is the only one older than a sophomore, but she hasn't appeared on the mound since 2017, when she threw in 16 games with seven starts. They only return one inning thrown by CC Cook from last year's roster.
"They are going to face some challenges," Obrest said. "Our freshmen will throw like freshmen in some moments, but we've thrown live game situations at them in the last month to work through those challenging moments. We've put batters in the box with certain counts and one pitch to see what they do (on the mound). We've done a really good job preparing them so nothing is a surprise in actual games. And they've responded great. They break it all down, have meetings and make it more than just bullpen (throwing sessions). They've made so much progress."
The perceived chaos creates opportunity, one that will see the Eagles tinker and transform. The foundation allows them to transition from year to year without having to significantly alter the way they play the game, but the new faces will allow them to work on some of their past shortcomings. There's an urgency to become more advantageous in situational softball, creating  a sense of improvement through attack.
"The program has standards, and that's not going to budge," Obrest said. "We're not going to have wiggle room there. But we looked back over the last three years and analyzed where we wanted to get better. We know we have to turn (more) double plays and go for lead runners (on defense). We drilled that into our catchers' heads to call plays, nice and loud. It was a little ugly in the beginning, but now they're directing the field.
"We also want to be aggressive on the base paths," she said. "If a ball is in the dirt, we have to steal on it. We want to go second to home on gappers. We have to kick up our aggressiveness on offense. It's all about reads (there). You don't have to be the fastest runner if you read the play properly and react. So we want them to get better with their reads and reactions. Some are already there, but some are still worrying about being thrown out. We're giving them the green light to test it out (and learn their abilities)."
It's an attitude that's laying the brickwork for BC's drive into one of the nation's best conferences. Last season's arrival of NC State and Virginia split the league into two, six-team divisions, and the Eagles aligned into the traditional Atlantic Division, which included Notre Dame, Louisville, Syracuse and Florida State.
The Fighting Irish eliminated BC in the ACC Tournament and earned a trip to the Lexington Regional. They beat Michigan twice to eliminate the Wolverines but lost to Kentucky both in Round Two and in the Regional Finals.
Florida State, meanwhile, finished as the No. 6 overall seed and hosted through the Super Regionals. The Seminoles swept the Tallahassee Regional, then beat No. 11 LSU in the Supers to advance to the Women's College World Series. Save for an opening game slip-up against No. 3 UCLA, they wouldn't lose again. They eliminated Georgia and the No. 1 Oregon Ducks before beating UCLA twice, then swept No. 5 Washington in the CWS Championship to win their first national crown.
It's on top of a nonleague schedule that begins this weekend in Texas against the nationally-ranked Longhorns and continues later this month against another ranked team, James Madison.
"There's no way we are ready to face Notre Dame and Louisville and Florida State yet," Obrest said. "So I think it's a no-brainer to schedule hard in the beginning of the year. Without it, we would walk into that first series with big eyes at someone who throws 65 (miles per hour) and teams turning double plays. We want to be tested early so we can be ready for ACC play. We've always tackled scheduling that way."
But perhaps most important is that the Eagles will be able to enjoy a true home field for the first time in two seasons. They started last season on Shea Field before moving to the Harrington Athletics Village in Brighton, but the midseason move and finishing touches of construction prevented the players and coaches from getting truly comfortable. The new field is now totally complete, and this season feels extra special as a result.
"It's still surreal that all of this stuff is ours," Obrest said. "If you can't walk out on that field, knowing that you appreciate everything that the schools had one, you'd have to check your ego and ask what you're doing. We have 19 student-athletes who are grateful and appreciate everything. They're going to take care of that field and work hard for the donors who made that possible - and for everyone who played on Shea Field who didn't have a beautiful field. Now that we have it, we're going to be playing extra hard for those generations."
The Eagles open up this weekend with the Texas Classic against Boise State, Northwestern State and No. 16 Texas. All five games can be seen on television on ESPN's Longhorn Network, with doubleheaders on both Friday and Saturday. The Eagles wrap up with one game on Sunday before heading to Georgia next weekend for the ACC/B1G Challenge.
So Obrest had a single message for her team as it left Chestnut Hill for Texas to start its 2019 season this weekend: Stop knocking on the door, and kick it all the way down.
"We use the word 'hungry,'" Obrest said. "You can't sit back and talk about how close we were because when people are watching regionals, they're not talking about teams that were close. We've finished third or tied for fourth the last few years, so we've been knocking at that door. But now is the time for us to turn the corner and tell everyone that we're not going to be close anymore."
If that sounds determined, it's because Obrest knows the Eagles are staring down tempered external expectations. The rest of the college softball world is expecting a drop off for a team with nine freshmen and a blank slate pitching staff. The preseason ACC Coaches Poll dropped BC to ninth place overall and fifth in its six-team division. It's a prognostication that would have the Eagles drop two slots in the Atlantic Division and finish ahead of only NC State, a team that, with Virginia, began sponsoring the sport in 2018.
"Some people are automatically counting us out just by looking at the roster, and you could see that in the ACC preseason poll," Obrest said. "It didn't go over well because it was an eye-opener to say that people might not be thinking much about us."
It's an internal standard set by the roster's foundation. BC returns players like Carly Severini and Lexi DiEmmanuele, both of whom have serious softball resumes.. Emme Martinez nearly hit .300 last season en route to a first-team all-conference selection, and both Allyson Moore and Olivia Markopoulos give the Eagles talent and flexibility.
That is of little consolation to many who know the departure of Jessica Dreswick blows a hole in the Boston College pitching staff, where only two players return in 2019. Senior Kendra Friedt is the only one older than a sophomore, but she hasn't appeared on the mound since 2017, when she threw in 16 games with seven starts. They only return one inning thrown by CC Cook from last year's roster.
"They are going to face some challenges," Obrest said. "Our freshmen will throw like freshmen in some moments, but we've thrown live game situations at them in the last month to work through those challenging moments. We've put batters in the box with certain counts and one pitch to see what they do (on the mound). We've done a really good job preparing them so nothing is a surprise in actual games. And they've responded great. They break it all down, have meetings and make it more than just bullpen (throwing sessions). They've made so much progress."
The perceived chaos creates opportunity, one that will see the Eagles tinker and transform. The foundation allows them to transition from year to year without having to significantly alter the way they play the game, but the new faces will allow them to work on some of their past shortcomings. There's an urgency to become more advantageous in situational softball, creating  a sense of improvement through attack.
"The program has standards, and that's not going to budge," Obrest said. "We're not going to have wiggle room there. But we looked back over the last three years and analyzed where we wanted to get better. We know we have to turn (more) double plays and go for lead runners (on defense). We drilled that into our catchers' heads to call plays, nice and loud. It was a little ugly in the beginning, but now they're directing the field.
"We also want to be aggressive on the base paths," she said. "If a ball is in the dirt, we have to steal on it. We want to go second to home on gappers. We have to kick up our aggressiveness on offense. It's all about reads (there). You don't have to be the fastest runner if you read the play properly and react. So we want them to get better with their reads and reactions. Some are already there, but some are still worrying about being thrown out. We're giving them the green light to test it out (and learn their abilities)."
It's an attitude that's laying the brickwork for BC's drive into one of the nation's best conferences. Last season's arrival of NC State and Virginia split the league into two, six-team divisions, and the Eagles aligned into the traditional Atlantic Division, which included Notre Dame, Louisville, Syracuse and Florida State.
The Fighting Irish eliminated BC in the ACC Tournament and earned a trip to the Lexington Regional. They beat Michigan twice to eliminate the Wolverines but lost to Kentucky both in Round Two and in the Regional Finals.
Florida State, meanwhile, finished as the No. 6 overall seed and hosted through the Super Regionals. The Seminoles swept the Tallahassee Regional, then beat No. 11 LSU in the Supers to advance to the Women's College World Series. Save for an opening game slip-up against No. 3 UCLA, they wouldn't lose again. They eliminated Georgia and the No. 1 Oregon Ducks before beating UCLA twice, then swept No. 5 Washington in the CWS Championship to win their first national crown.
It's on top of a nonleague schedule that begins this weekend in Texas against the nationally-ranked Longhorns and continues later this month against another ranked team, James Madison.
"There's no way we are ready to face Notre Dame and Louisville and Florida State yet," Obrest said. "So I think it's a no-brainer to schedule hard in the beginning of the year. Without it, we would walk into that first series with big eyes at someone who throws 65 (miles per hour) and teams turning double plays. We want to be tested early so we can be ready for ACC play. We've always tackled scheduling that way."
But perhaps most important is that the Eagles will be able to enjoy a true home field for the first time in two seasons. They started last season on Shea Field before moving to the Harrington Athletics Village in Brighton, but the midseason move and finishing touches of construction prevented the players and coaches from getting truly comfortable. The new field is now totally complete, and this season feels extra special as a result.
"It's still surreal that all of this stuff is ours," Obrest said. "If you can't walk out on that field, knowing that you appreciate everything that the schools had one, you'd have to check your ego and ask what you're doing. We have 19 student-athletes who are grateful and appreciate everything. They're going to take care of that field and work hard for the donors who made that possible - and for everyone who played on Shea Field who didn't have a beautiful field. Now that we have it, we're going to be playing extra hard for those generations."
The Eagles open up this weekend with the Texas Classic against Boise State, Northwestern State and No. 16 Texas. All five games can be seen on television on ESPN's Longhorn Network, with doubleheaders on both Friday and Saturday. The Eagles wrap up with one game on Sunday before heading to Georgia next weekend for the ACC/B1G Challenge.
Players Mentioned
OF
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
2B/OF
/ Softball
C/3B
/ Softball
C/1B
/ Softball
SS/2B
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