“I feel as though all of the teams in the [MWC] this year were really evenly matched,” said Brooke Yoder ’12. “You had to come out every game and play.”
After losing six seniors from last year’s 8-20 squad, expectations at the beginning of the year were modest for the young team.
“Having to go through a lot of the things we had to go through this season also made us closer,” said Kelsey Montgomery ’11. “At some points it didn’t matter what level you were at. It made us a team unit. You had to depend on the people on your team.”
The Pioneers had only 12 players and only three seniors on the roster but still only just missed a conference tournament berth.
“Everyone was able to contribute and participate in major ways,” Montgomery said. “There wasn’t really anyone who didn’t get to see a lot of playing time or didn’t get to contribute in certain ways.”
Assistant Coach Kate Gluckman was also impressed with how the team handled their situation.
“I’m very proud of this team. There were many reasons to throw in our mitts at the beginning of the season and the athletes stayed focused, stayed strong, and believed in themselves,” Gluckman said. “Although our season ended earlier than we had hoped, I’m very proud of what the team accomplished this year.”
Although the non-conference schedule yielded only three wins, they provided the team with exposure to tough opponents. The experience certainly paid off in the beginning of conference play as the team won their first six and stood atop the South Division standings.
“The team did a great job this season. They worked hard on a daily basis and found success in the games,” said Gluckman.
“We always focused on completing the routine plays, having solid at-bats each inning.”
But after victories over Beloit College and Lawrence University, Grinnell was unable to secure a win in the rest of the MWC Tournament.
“That’s hard because we went into conference undefeated and had a huge target on our back,” Yoder said. “That’s a hard thing to play under when you only have 11 people.”
Despite a sour end to the season, Montgomery said she felt that there has been a lot of progress made this year.
“There’s just a world of difference between how it was last year and the foundation we started off with this year,” Montgomery said. “I think that after bringing in another first-year class, the next few years we’re really going to work off what we started this season.”
