Older and wiser, the Ithaca College softball team is working to advance past the Liberty League Championship Tournament for the first time since 2019. With three seniors, two graduate students and Kelly Robichaud ’16 entering her second year as head coach, the team looks toward its leadership and strong team dynamics to bring them through the season.
Robichaud said the most important lesson she learned during her first season as head coach was the value of every role on the roster. She said that she wants every player to feel like a crucial part of the team’s success, and that while their end goal is to win the Liberty League tournament, there are milestones to complete first.
“We want to be at the top of our conference, going into the postseason,” Robichaud said. “That would allow us hosting rights, and a goal of ours is to be able to host our conference here on campus.”
The last time the Liberty League tournament was held on Kostrinsky field was in 2019, when the team made it to the NCAA Super Regional before losing to Williams College in two games. In the years since then, the team has performed better at home than away, with their winning percentage never dipping below 0.750.
Over the off-season, the team gained junior utility Cate Murray from Colgate University. Robichaud said she expects Murray, as well as the six first-year students, to make a great addition to the close-knit team.
“[The first-year students] are a great group,” Robichaud said. “They bring a lot of energy and create a really great competitive atmosphere for the team. That’s only going to make us stronger.”
When it comes to first-year players, Robichaud said the team can expect great things from first-year infielders Isabella Maynard, Paige Cannon and Madison Schoenenberger. She said all three players bring strong defensive work to the team. Both Cannon and Schoenenberger were team captains and MVPs during their senior years of high school.
The team has worked hard over the off-season to welcome first-year players into their dynamic. Sophomore pitcher Taylor Brunn said the new players will bring a level of depth that the Bombers’ have not benefited from in the past. The first-year players include two outfielders, two infielders and two catchers, bringing the roster to 22 players over last season’s 17. Brunn said the first-year players are already meshing well with the team’s leadership.
“It’s important to bring in those freshmen and help guide them where we need to go as a team, but also to be there for them,” Brunn said. “Every first year struggles with adjusting to college. I know personally, I really needed to adjust coming into college. It was a big change for me, and it’s been really amazing.”
Brunn said she is particularly close with first-year outfielder Gabriella Facciponti. The duo grew up just miles apart in Merrick and Wantagh, New York, where they played on the same travel team in middle school. In high school, their teams, the Calhoun Colts and MacArthur Generals, were league rivals.
“It’s been special for me to be able to play with her on the next level and grow our friendship,” Brunn said. “But it’s also been really nice to just be teammates with her again.”
When it comes to performance goals, sophomore infielder Elise Waddington said everyone is focusing on getting 1% better every day. Waddington started in every game last season, leading the Bombers’ with 28 runs and 45 hits over 132 at-bats. This season, Waddington said she is working to be a backbone for the team.
“I’m developing offensively and defensively,” Waddington said. “I want to be the best that I can be for my team: staying healthy, of course, being the hardest out and a power hitter and making outs for my pitchers.”
Last season was a master-class in pitching for the Bombers. Junior pitcher Anna Cornell pitched a near-perfect game against the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Engineers, allowing only one run over the course of 10 innings. Her 21 strikeouts set a new single-game record for the team. By the end of the season she pitched in 131.1 innings and averaged 1.76 earned runs per game.
The Bombers’ pitching roster is rounded out by Brunn and fellow sophomore pitcher Mady Rowell. Brunn started in 12 games last season and had a 2.24 earned run average, but she said this season is not about performance metrics.
“Whether my role for the day is being the loudest cheerleader, being on the mound starting a game or coming in relief, it doesn’t matter,” Brunn said. “Stats don’t really matter to me at all. I just want to do what I can to make sure that our team wins. In any role that I’m given, I will do my absolute best to make sure that happens.”
On the whole, the Bombers are using a team-effort mentality to achieve their goals. Waddington said the high retention of last year’s players has led to everyone, from graduate to first-year students, becoming incredible leaders.
“As a sophomore, I look up to [older players] on and off the field,” Waddington said. “They’re great mentors. We’re grateful to have our fifth-years back for one last year with us in the program. … I love playing under them.”
Of the eight players who started in over 75% of games last season, five of them were first-year students or sophomores. Brunn said that experience tested their abilities and prepared them for anything the game could throw at them. She said now that the returning players know what to expect from every situation, they are more ready than ever to make it through the Liberty League championship.
One of the season’s biggest matchups will be a doubleheader against Rochester Institute of Technology at 1 p.m. May 3 at Kostrinsky Field. Although the teams are Liberty League rivals, the Bombers are looking to keep their streak after winning the last 13 matchups, the longest streak since the two teams’ first game together in 1993.
