With the sun actually shining on Kostrinsky Field on March 31, the softball team finally played its already-rescheduled home opener against the University of Rochester. The sun’s rays didn’t reach the home dugout though, as the Blue and Gold lost both games that day, leaving the team in shock.  

“We were all hurt,” junior pitcher Alyssa Brook said. “It didn’t feel good to get swept at our first doubleheader at home.”

The two losses set Ithaca back to 11–9 for the season, with the conference season less than a week away. The only way the Blue and Gold could react to the losses was to refocus.

“We learned that we just need to loosen up  and just play without inhibitions or fears,” junior shortstop Annmarie Forenza said.

With that mind-set worked into the practice plan, the weather would once again wreak havoc, causing the South Hill squad to go back inside Ben Light Gymnasium. The baby blue walls and basketball hoops were not what the athletes wanted to see as the calendar turned to April.

“Ithaca weather has definitely been a barrier to get over,” Brook said. “It is never fun to go back to the gym after being outside.”

The cold and wet conditions kept up throughout the week, however, and forced the Bombers to postpone their scheduled doubleheaders against both King’s College and Alfred University on April 1 and April 4.

“The hardest part is looking forward to the game, waking up, and it’s pouring outside,” Forenza said.

Amid the numerous frustrations with the weather, a positive circumstance may have emerged. Because their next series of games featured conference play, the Blue and Gold had time to refocus on what they wanted to accomplish. A solid season inside the conference would help their cause for the playoffs.

“Our new focus now is to clinch the Empire 8,” Brook said. “We have more of an attainable goal of winning it.”

Before the conference season started, the Bombers were trying to learn how to win games, without a real destination. Each time they ran out on the field, they were focused on the individual games. Now, with a long-term goal in mind, each conference game has a greater value and more meaning.

“We were all really looking forward to conference games,” Forenza said. “At this point, we need to finish the conference on top. It is kind of our last shot.”

Before last season, the Blue and Gold had won the conference championship the previous six years, but this season, they were chosen to reclaim the title by the Empire 8 Softball Preseason Coaches’ Poll in a unanimous decision.

They started that quest at Rochester Institute of Technology on Sunday. Finally given a day without snow, rain or sleet, Ithaca took full advantage of its renewed focus, sweeping the doubleheader. In both games, the Bombers scored runs in the late innings to secure the wins.

“Those two wins let a lot of people know we are still in it,” junior outfielder Katherine Wilson said.  

Now 2–0 in the Empire 8 and tied for first in the conference with Nazareth College, the Blue and Gold take to Kostrinsky field in doubleheaders against both St. John Fisher College and Nazareth on Friday and Saturday, respectively. With those contests taking up 33 percent of their conference season, these four games will loom large in the Empire 8 standings.

“If we could come away sweeping both, it would be awesome,” Forenza said.

Still excited about the prospect of actually playing games, the Bombers will need to take advantage of their days off at this point of the season. Because of all the cancellations, Ithaca will have daily doubleheaders the last two weeks of April, rounding out their regular season schedule. Wilson does not think they will be fazed by it though.

“It’s kind of hard playing that many games in a row,” she said. “But if you ask anyone on the team, they will tell you that we just love to play.”