STANDISH, ME - The Saint Joseph's College softball team recorded one of the most successful seasons in program history last spring.
The Monks notched a pair of important team achievements in 2011 with the program's first Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Championship and the subsequent NCAA DIII Softball Tournament berth - also a team-first - under the guidance of 14th-year Head Coach Jamie Smyth '92.
Despite losing a quartet of four-year contributors - Jillian Kimball, Liddy van der Linden, Christy Wezowicz and Anna Willis - to graduation the previous spring, the Monks had high expectations for the 2011 campaign. With a very talented freshman class and a motivated crop of upperclassmen, St. Joe's managed to accomplish nearly every goal set forth by the team's leaders.
After advancing deep into the GNAC Tournament in each of the three previous seasons, including a pair of championship game appearances, the Monks finally broke through last spring with a thrilling 5-4 victory over Rivier College in the conference title game. Not happy to just play in the NCAA Tournament, Saint Joseph's made an improbable run as the #6 seed with upset wins over #3 Endicott and #2 Coast Guard Academy, ranked sixth in the nation at the time, before bowing out of the tourney with losses to top-seeded Eastern Connecticut - the eventual Providence Regional Champion - and #4 Rhode Island College.
Although the team fell just short of reaching the program's ultimate goal, a Regional Championship, the Monks made necessary strides towards reaching that objective in 2011. St. Joe's capped the season with a 37-10 overall record and a 21-3 mark in GNAC play and was ranked seventh in the final New England Intercollegiate Softball Coaches Association Weekly poll. The Monks' 37 wins last spring ranks as the second-most ever recorded by an SJC softball team, just behind the 1996 club that tallied 38 victories.
A successful spring trip set the tone for the season as the Royal Blue went 7-3 during the week-long southern swing with victories over UMass.-Dartmouth, Kenyon, Curry, North Park, Amherst and Wooster. The Monks 2011 spring trip record ranks as the team's best mark through 10 games since the team opened the 1994 season with a 9-1 effort.
Center fielder Emily Leverone '12 (Hampton, N.H.) and second baseman Connie Grovo '14 (Limington, Maine) led the Monks' offensive attack during the opening week. Leverone, a three-time First Team All-GNAC selection, hit .412 (14-34) with six doubles, two triples and two home runs and Grovo hit .321 (9-28) with six runs, two doubles, four RBI and seven sacrifice bunts during her first week of collegiate ball.
St. Joe's returned to New England and faced off against rival Emerson College in a conference doubleheader on March 26th in Boston. The Monks held the lead late in both games, but twice the Lions rallied in the closing innings to sweep the GNAC twinbill.
The Royal Blue, which lost to Wisconsin-Oshkosh in the team's final spring trip tilt, would not drop three straight games for the remainder of the season.
The Monks went on to host GNAC foe Simmons College in the team's 2011 home-opener five days later. St. Joe's swept the Sharks with 10-3 and 3-2 wins and ace Maddie Kluna '12 (Standish, Maine) set the tone in the opener with 10 strikeouts.
The club hit the road again on April 3rd when the Royal Blue faced off against Saint Joseph (Conn.) in a conference twinbill. In the first game, junior outfielder Katelyn Call (Portland, Maine/McAuley) pushed the Monks to a 2-1 victory with an RBI double in the top of the seventh. The Blue Jays forced the Monks to accept a split on this day however, as the hosts plated the winning run in the top of the eighth off a sac fly to take a 2-1 win.
Saint Joseph's would not fall into the loss column again until the team fell to University of New England by a 6-5 margin in an extra-inning contest on April 19th. In the meantime, the Monks collected twinbill sweeps over University of Southern Maine, Emmanuel College, Rivier College, Johnson & Wales University, Mount Ida College, and Suffolk University.
The GNAC doubleheader versus River College on April 9th was a special day in many ways. The program dedicated the softball field to longtime Head Coach Dick Bailey, who currently serves as an assistant on the SJC coaching staff. The dedication ceremony involved the unveiling of a brand new inning-by-inning scoreboard in left-center as well as Coach Bailey's namesake in bold white lettering affixed to the press box above the home dugout.
Coach Smyth, who served as an assistant under Bailey's tutelage for two seasons, recorded his 300th career victory with an extra-inning 8-7 triumph in the opening game against the Raiders that day.
Leverone added to her impressive list of program high-water marks the very next day when she drove in six runs in a victory over Johnson & Wales to surpass Lisa Pichaske '98 as the Monks' all-time RBI leader. The junior slugger closed out the 2011 campaign with 169 runs batted in 130 career contests.
St. Joe's followed the heartbreaking loss at the hands of UNE with a victory in the very next game - a convincing 7-1 triumph over the Nor'easters - behind a stellar offensive effort posted by Leverone, who went 3-4 with two doubles and three RBI to help her team begin another winning streak.
And the Monks accomplished just that with a nine-game victory string that included sweeps over Pine Manor College, Lasell College, Albertus Magnus College, and Norwich University over the following seven days. The streak ended with an 8-0 loss to University of Maine - an NCAA DI opponent - on April 27th.
Fortunately, the resilient Monks were not fazed by the one-sided setback at the team was about to begin play in the 2011 GNAC Tournament just two days later. St. Joe's earned the #2 seed in the conference tourney and served as a first-round host for the third consecutive season.
Saint Joseph's faced third-seeded Simmons College in the team's first GNAC tourney tilt and the game was an interesting one to say the least. Trailing 2-1 through 4 ½ frames, the Monks exploded for five runs, including a two-run jack hit by Leverone, in the bottom of the fifth to secure a seemingly comfortable 6-2 lead. The cushion eroded however, as the Sharks made it a one-run contest with a late rally, but Kluna - the SJC starter - was able to hold the visitors at bay to earn a 6-5 victory.
In a second-round game versus #5 Rivier College, the Monks left little doubt as to who would advance to the GNAC Championship by scoring six runs in the first inning. Saint Joseph's made short work of the Raiders with a mercy-rule-shortened 13-2 triumph, which featured 15 hits by the Monks and a team-record four home runs.
As it turned out, St. Joe's would face Rivier again as the Raiders ventured through the losers' bracket to take on the Monks in the championship game. Rivier came out of the gates hot with two runs in the first and single runs in the second and third innings to secure a 4-0 lead that lasted until the bottom of the sixth when Saint Joseph's erased the deficit with five runs, including what turned out to be a game-winning three-run homer hit by sophomore third baseman Heather Tripp (Lovell, Maine).
The victory meant the Monks were headed to the NCAA DIII Tournament for the first time in program history. The GNAC crown was the team's first in four seasons as a member of the conference and the league title was the Monks' first since the program captured the Maine Athletic Conference championship in 2002.
With a long layoff between the GNAC Tournament and the NCAA Regional, the Monks scheduled a contest with in-state rival Husson University on May 8th. The SJC bats were silent early, but came through late once again with five runs in the last two innings to nail down a 5-2 victory.
Four days later, Saint Joseph's began play in the 2011 NCAA Tournament at the Providence Regional, which was hosted by Rhode Island College at the Dayna A. Bazar Softball Complex. The #6 Monks opened the tourney with a contest versus #3 Endicott College and walked away nearly two hours later with an 8-1 victory - the Monks first-ever NCAA tourney triumph. Senior first baseman Alyssa Dunn (Standish, Maine) fell a triple shy of a cycle and went 4-4 with three runs and two RBI and Kluna went the distance in the circle with five K's and four hits allowed in the upset victory.
Up next for the Monks was a considerable challenge as the team faced off against #2 Coast Guard Academy, the sixth-ranked team in the country at the time. Unfazed by the hoopla, St. Joe's proceeded to dispose of the Bears by a 4-3 margin to remain in the winners' bracket. SJC starter Rae-Marie Copan '14 (Newton, Mass.) picked up the victory after allowing three runs off five hits in five innings and Kluna collected her fourth save of the year with two effective innings in relief.
On Saturday, May 14th, Saint Joseph's took on top-seeded Eastern Connecticut State University in a battle of the only undefeated teams remaining in the regional tournament. Unfortunately, the Monks ran into a buzz saw in the name of Molly Rathbun, the Warriors' top pitcher who went 24-2 with 280 strikeouts in 194 innings during the 2011 season, and suffered their first loss, a 5-1 setback. St. Joe's did record a modest moral victory however, as the Royal Blue was the first team to record a hit or a run against Rathbun during regional play.
The Monks' tourney run and season came to an abrupt halt the following day when St. Joe's suffered a 7-4 defeat to #4 Rhode Island College. The Anchorwomen capitalized on an error to score three runs in the top of the third, but Saint Joseph's responded with two runs off a Dunn longball in the bottom of the fourth. RIC increased its cushion to what turned out to be an insurmountable 7-2 advantage with two runs in the top of the sixth and another pair in the top of the seventh. Tripp provided her team with some late hope by hitting a two-run tater with one out in the bottom of the final frame, but the Monks would get no closer.
With her last hit of the season, a double versus Rhode Island, Leverone became the first SJC player to reach the 200-hit plateau.
Saint Joseph's graduated just three seniors from the 2011 GNAC Championship squad: Dunn, Natasha Howard (Farmington, Maine) and Kiera Walsh (Benton, Maine). The trio helped the Monks post an impressive 122-51 (.705) record, including a 79-19 (.806) mark in GNAC play.
