The ninth-ranked softball team is gearing up for the postseason once again. With an overall record of 28–8 and a 12–0 mark in the Empire 8, the Bombers will host the Empire 8 Championship Tournament this weekend at Kostrinsky Field.

Senior co-captain and pitcher Nicole Cade said the team has been working and building for this point the entire season.

The Blue and Gold clinched the top seed in the tournament and will play Nazareth College in their first game of the double elimination tournament Friday at noon. The South Hill squad has won the tournament in all of the six years it has existed.

Still, Head Coach Deb Pallozzi said the Golden Flyers are the only focus of her team in the days leading up to the competition.

“We’re gearing up for Naz specifically,” Pallozzi said. “We’re really going to take care of ourselves.”

This week, the team is mainly getting ready for Nazareth, but it also had a regular season game. After the doubleheaders against Medaille College on Sunday and SUNY-Geneseo on Monday were cancelled, the Bombers added a doubleheader against King’s College for Tuesday afternoon.

Ithaca swept the two games, winning 4–1 and 5–1, respectively. Though this was an in-region game and was important to their overall record, the Blue and Gold were looking to use these two games as momentum for Friday.

“It’s in-region competition, so it’s just as important as all other games,” Cade said. “We want to sling into Friday on a high note.”

Fellow co-captain and senior shortstop Erica Cutspec also viewed the doubleheader as a fine tuner for the Golden Flyers.

For the six seniors on the team, the thought of this being their last postseason puts what is ahead of them in perspective and gives them the drive to leave everything on the field.

“We just don’t want it to end,” Cutspec said. “We’re just going to take it one step at a time. It’s always in the back of our minds that every game, starting Friday, could be our last, so it’s a little bit [of an] added incentive.”

The Bombers have had a cake walk in conference competition this season, blowing their foes out in 11 of the 12 Empire 8 games. Against their conference opponents, they have scored 89 runs, while surrendering only eight.

Though the seniors, juniors and sophomores know what the postseason atmosphere is like, the freshmen are experiencing something totally different for the first time in their lives.

Cutspec said the freshmen will undoubtedly be excited about this weekend’s games but will not know what the mood is like until they are out on the field.

“We’re kind of excited for them in that regard,” she said.

For the senior shortstop, who is sporting a .466 batting average in 34 games, this playoff drive ahead leaves nothing but goals, hopes and aspirations.

“I would love to end my career here at Ithaca and have all of us win a National Championship,” Cutspec said. “That’s our hope.”