The softball team will travel to Fairfax, Va. again to face three teams in four games over the upcoming weekend. The Red will face Bucknell around noon on Saturday and will have a chance to avenge last week’s close loss against George Mason later in the afternoon. Cornell will then face Bucknell again Sunday morning and will finish the trip with a game against Binghamton.
Originally, the team was scheduled to play five games over the weekend, including a game on Friday against Binghamton; however, the game was canceled and instead the teams will only be taking the field to practice. Last week, two games were canceled due to heavy rain, so the team is losing valuable playing time early in the season.
“It’s still fairly new into the season,” said senior outfielder and co-captain Marissa Amiraian. “We only have two games under our belt and that’s a lot less than what other teams have at this point in the season. It’s still a learning process.”
The lack of play so far in the season adds to the importance of this weekend’s four games.
“This weekend we hope to get outside and get more live game experience in order to sharpen our skills and see where we can still work to improve,” said senior pitcher and co-captain Ali Tomlinson. “Every game is important in better preparing us for the upcoming Ivy season so we are just excited to get to George Mason and get some more quality games in this weekend.”
The team is excited to take the field for the second time this season, and is ready to avenge a close loss against George Mason that took place just a week ago.
“It was a game that could have gone either way,” Amiraian said. “They are a really good team. This time, we need to make sure we play that much better defense and that much better offense and hopefully we can come out with a win against George Mason.”
Even though it is early in the season, the team’s endurance will be tested as the four games only cover the span of two days; however, these type of weekends occur often throughout the season, especially when Ivy League play starts.
“It trains our body,” Amiraian said. “It is just as taxing physically as it is mentally. These are long days but these days are great preparation for later on.”
The team has been preparing for these busy weekends during the offseason.
“All winter our coach really focuses on staying mentally engaged and focused throughout the entire practice or game in order to prepare us for the long days,” Tomlinson said. “Everyone on the team is an extremely dedicated and focused player.”
The team has also been practicing hard to keep themselves in shape and ready for these types of long weekends. Additionally, even though practice may not have been on the field, it has the team prepared for all aspects of the game.
“This is why we’ve been working hard this offseason to be physically and mentally prepared,” Amiraian said. “We’ve been working hard in practice to make sure that our defense is sound, our offense is strong and to be ready for anything our opponent throws at us.”
Even though regular season play has begun, the team has not stopped practicing.
“We will work hard all week in practice and prepare the best we can to play quality softball this weekend,” Tomlinson said.
Despite the rigors of playing so many games, the Red is just excited to be going out there once again for its second round of games.
“We are excited to get the opportunity to go down there and play,” Amiraian said. “We’re bummed we only got two games last time. It’s just great to be on the field and we’re going to really value having these games before facing the Ivy League teams.”
Original Author: Wankyu Lee