For 41 days, UMass Boston’s softball team stayed away from any consecutive losses. The Beacons beat anybody following a loss, and stretched out winning streaks up to 15-fold. However, things have changed rather quickly, in the closing 10 days of the regular season the Beacons rolled into three straight losses two separate times.
A 1-6 record in that period includes four Little East Conference losses, resulting in just a 8-7-1 in-conference tally. After starting the season in record-breaking fashion, UMass Boston is still at risk of dropping as far as the fifth seed in the LEC Tournament pending how Plymouth State and Eastern Connecticut fare in their respective finalies.
The Beacons were projected to finish first in the Little East’s preseason coaches poll, and looked like that team for almost — but not quite — a full season’s time. As a team, they lead the LEC in batting average and ERA, but have also accrued the most errors — the Beacons have committed a conference-high 28 errors in LEC play.
Despite consistent quality outings from their pitching staff, wins have been hard to come by. During their final seven games, the Beacons’ offense has dried up, averaging just over three runs a game compared to the seven runs per game they averaged prior to April 22.
The bats have gone cold. Spanning since their loss to Keene State on Earth Day which sparked their first streak of losses, Gracie Granger, Amauri English, Haley Tilberry, and Ella Deslisle are hitting a combined .166.
English, a senior, started the year on an eight game hitting streak, and looked like their best hitter at times, she had two hits in her final eight games. A cold second half of the season overall, her average has dropped to .260 on the year—a career low.
It could be said cold streaks happen, and happen they do, but there’s no coincidence in timing here. Up until April 15 in 2023, UMass Boston was 17-9, and finished the season 2-10 to ultimately get shut out in two playoff games. Last year the Beacons held on, winning a program second-best 28 regular season games, but were outscored a total of 10-4 in two playoff losses.
It’s been six years since the Beacons have won a playoff game, and they’ve tailed off at the end of almost every season since. Before this drought, UMass Boston won back to back LEC Championships between 2017-2018. Established veterans and star players have made solid careers here, but still have holes in their resumè that can only be filled one way — doing damage in the LEC Tournament.
This roster is filled with talent up and down. They’ve got two pitchers who could each make an argument, nearly unopposed, for the best pitcher in the conference in Melchionda and Jacqueline Cherry; decorated hitters such as Lauren Miner, Sofie Richland and English; and excellent underclassmen like Mary Matthews — she’s in the running for rookie of the year, hitting a whopping .381 in 105 ABs as a freshman — Hayley Krockta, and Deslisle, a sophomore who has shined behind the plate at catcher all year.
Like years past, the cast is there. But a lot of trends have seemed too similar, and now is not the time to play how they’ve been playing — the tide will have to turn, quickly, for the Beacons to salvage what once looked like an all-time season.
