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The team only lost three seniors to graduation, which means the bulk of the players on last year's squad gained the Western Mass. experience. This also means that head coach Phil Paul has the advantage of basically fielding the same team as last year. To fill in the spots left vacant by the graduating seniors, Paul has a talented pool of fresh, young talent looking for their first taste of the "second season."
"We have three main goals for this season," Paul said. "Number one is obviously to get back to Western Mass. Another one is for us to come together as a team and really enjoy the season. And then we're graduating four seniors this year, so hopefully for their last one together that it can be a good one. We
As for positions, there's an interesting passing of the torch behind the plate. Greylock's class of 2007, Karyn Koziara, will be handing the catching duties over to the class of 2012's Caitie Benoit. The eighth grader backed up Koziara on the varsity squad last year and despite her youth, her coach has high expectations for her as she steps into the starting role this season.
"Karyn did a lot for us last season," Paul said. "Not only did she do a great job catching for us, but she also pitched for us occasionally. But we're going to fill her spot with Caitie, who we feel is going to be a very good catcher. We're looking forward to seeing how she develops."
Tossing strikes to Benoit will be Lindsay Maynard and Ashley Bouchard, who are both seniors, both captains and both looking to do big things in '08.
"For a while we haven't been considered one of the 'good' teams in Berkshire County," Maynard said. "And then finally last year, people started taking us seriously, and I think it was mainly because we started playing like a team again. We all worked together and worked hard. If one person wasn't doing well then someone else would make up for it. And if we lost games then we knew that we'd come back the next game and try harder. We have a lot of the same girls this year, so let's hope we can get back to that level."
Bouchard is confident but feels that everything will take time to come together again.
"We have eight or nine girls returning, so the base of our team is strong," she said. "But then we have a lot of young girls coming in, too. So it's going to be a progressive thing as we go through the season as the younger girls get used to things and up to speed."
The third and final captain on the team is Lindsay's twin sister, Ally, who bounces between the hot corners at first and third base depending on who's pitching for the Mounties. She plays first when Lindsay pitches (Bouchard plays third), and when Bouchard pitches, she goes across the diamond to cover third while Lindsay plays first. Ally is also the team's resident slugger, but Lindsay and Ashley have some pop in their bats, too. All three look to carry much of the offensive load.
"We have a good mix of young girls and veterans," Ally said. "The good thing about young girls is that everyone for the most part is optimistic, so you don't really have any of those bad apples on the team that kind of weigh it down. One of the things Lindsay, Ashley and I want to stress to the girls this year is that you have to have the initial thought that you are going to Western Mass. If you don't play with that mindset then that just allows for negative thoughts and doubts to get in there and those are bad."
Negative thoughts could've been the prevailing ones going into last season, coming off a dreadful 4-14 campaign in 2006. However, the girls came together and raised the bar.
"We dug ourselves out of the hole last year," Ally said.
That's a hole the Mounties hope to never fall into again.
