New coach begins new season

The softball team will kick off its 2013 season under new head coach Paige Smith in North Caro­lina this Friday at the Hampton Inn Campbell Stampede Tourna­ment.

The Pirates finished 21-32 overall last season with a 3-19 re­cord in the Big East and did not qualify for the Big East Champi­onship tournament.

First-year coach Smith said that her goals for the season are not result oriented.

"I want to win; what coach doesn't want to win?" Smith said. "We're going to put the best team out there and we realize there are small victories on the way to the big victory, but I don't like to make anything a big result-ori­ented goal."

The roster for the Pirates this season includes many return­ing veterans and a fresh batch of newcomers. Freshmen Yasmin Harrell, Jackie DiPietro, Alex Rabbetts, and Faith Laudano will look to make an impact in their first season.

Returning players include se­nior captain Brittany Hammer, who is the top offensive player returning from last year. She hit .300 last season and was one of only three players to start all 53 games for the Pirates last season. She is also the only player return­ing with a .300 batting average.

Sophomore pitcher and out­fielder Danielle DeStaso said the combination between experi­enced players and the four incom­ing freshmen is a strength for the team.

"I think that we will definitely do better than last year," DeStaso said. "We have four freshmen that should help us out a lot. And then our returning players, we also have a lot of experience. We have a lot of players that can help us."

There are competitions for starting positions taking place between all players. For the cor­ner outfield spots senior Cashel Gaffey, sophomore Colltey Shel­don, and freshmen Jackie DiPi­etro are fighting for the starting job. Senior Kirby Groves, junior Maria DeLuca, and sophomore Sam DeMasi will compete for the second base position. A total of five players will battle it out for the starting catcher spot.

"We put everyone in competi­tion every day," Smith said. "We always make sure there is some­thing on the line because there is never a time in competition when something is not. We put them in pressure situations consistently."

There will be much competi­tion and rotation defensively but DeStaso said that she is confident in the team's defense.

"I think that we definitely have a really solid defense," De­Staso said. "I know that I'm con­fident with the defense behind me when I'm pitching."

Courtney Hnasko can be reached at courtney.hnasko@stu­dent.shu.edu.