University of Connecticut Athletics
Softball: A memorable season cut short
4/22/2020 1:54:00 PM | Softball
When the spring sports seasons were canceled last week due to the COVID-19 pandemic, perhaps no UConn team missed out on something special more than the softball team.
The UConn softball team was off to a red hot 16-5 start, the program's best through 21 games since the 1993 season in which the Huskies went to their lone Women's College World Series. That's how good this team had a chance to be.
Laura Valentino said she had high expectations for her first season as UConn's head coach, but the team managed to exceed them.
"It was a lot of fun coaching this team," Valentino said. "Especially going into the third weekend of play, you could really start to see the confidence and the love of the game and the family atmosphere and the culture of our program shine through in tough, tight games … Seeing them grow as people and come together as a unit was really exciting for us."
UConn dominated throughout its shortened season, never having a losing record in any of the weekend series.
"They were playing with confidence," Valentino said. "They were playing with an edge. They had the refuse to lose mentality, the prove 'em wrong mentality … They were determined to go out every weekend and achieve that prove 'em wrong challenge and show whoever we were playing that we were here to play and UConn softball was back."
On the mound, it was the tandem of junior Marybeth Olson and freshhman Meghan O'Neil who really carried the team. They were both exceptional, and they combined to appear in nearly every single game as the true work horses of the staff.
Olson finished the season with an incredible 10-0 record and a 1.46 ERA in 62.1 innings.
"Watching her successes this year, … it was a credit to her attitude and her mentality when she was out on the mound," Valentino said. "So it was a lot of fun watching her pitch this year."
Even though her record was just 5-3, O'Neil was just as effective as Olson on the mound with a 1.53 ERA in 55 innings.
"If you had to ask me about Meghan, she didn't look like a freshman pitching on the mound for us this year," Valentino said. "She was tough, she handled some adversity and she also is probably one of the hardest workers on the team."
On offense, everyone contributed for the Huskies but it was Olivia Sappington and Briana Marcelino who really led the way. Sappington batted .350 with five home runs and an OPS of 1.017 while Marcelino batted .348 with four home runs and a 1.109 OPS. Most importantly, they both were terrific with runners in scoring position. Marcelino had 24 RBIs while Sappington had 22, which were the top two totals on the team.
"To see them really buy into the mentality behind hitting with runners in scoring position, that was exciting for us to see as a staff," Valentino said. "You almost get a feeling over in the third base box when both of those kids stepped in the batter's box that there's no way that pitcher was getting them out … I knew that they were gonna come up big for us. If Bri didn't get it done, Olivia was gonna get it done. If Olivia didn't get it done, Bri was gonna get it done."
Valentino said every weekend series had a memorable moment, and most of them were based around what the team called "Championship Sundays."
"The mindset behind it was every time we played on Sunday in our preseason tournaments, the mindset was, 'We're not losing because it's Championship Sunday,'" Valentino said. "We're gonna bring our best selves to the ballpark on Sunday because we're not going home losing."
The mindset worked too because the Huskies were 4-0 in Sunday games with wins over quality opponents like Florida Gulf Coast (who they were 0-7 against all time before this season), Purdue, Sacramento State and California. The team never had to get on a plane after a loss.
Another big moment came in the first weekend when UConn beat Boston College 3-2 in extra innings. Valentino said that game was big not only because of the regional rivalry, but also because the team struggled to win close games in previous seasons.
"For them, that was the first glimpse of we can do this," Valentino said. "We can compete when it's a tight ballgame and come out on top."
Valentino said after the second weekend, in which they went 5-0, the players really started to buy into what they were doing. She said she really loved this team and how they really came together in the short season.
"I was smiling a lot during these couple of months coaching this team," Valentino said. "They were proving people wrong, the confidence was there and I was really excited that the culture that we were trying to instill from day one was shining through."
At 16-5, if the Huskies maintained that pace throughout the whole 52 game season, it would roughly be a 40-win team. Valentino said she absolutely believes the team could have accomplished that and much more.
"With the way things were rolling, there's no doubt in my mind that we could've been there winning [the American Athletic Conference tournament]," Valentino said.
However, the season came to a screeching halt after UConn's 7-0 rout of Hofstra, Valentino's alma mater. The season was initially suspended before getting completely canceled just a few days later due to the unforeseeable pandemic caused by the new coronavirus.
Valentino said that was one of her most difficult times as a coach.
"It was a rollercoaster of emotions," Valentino said. "You go from telling your kids and your family that we're just suspended and then the thought creeps in of, 'Wow, this might actually be over.'"
This pandemic has affected every spring sport athlete across the country, but for a team like UConn softball, who was in the midst of a potentially historic season, it hit extremely hard.
"When you're on a roll and you have momentum and then it just gets taken away from you, I think it definitely tends to sting a little bit more," Valentino said.
But her final message to the team was despite the anger and sadness they feel about the season ending, they should instead appreciate that they did something really special in the time they had together.
"They should be very proud of what they accomplished this season," Valentino said. "They laid down a foundation for what we want as a championship culture moving forward."
Looking ahead to next season, Valentino is even more excited after the successes of this year's team. With a new stadium being built and a new conference on the horizon, there is also a new era of UConn softball — one potentially filled with championships — that this shortened season helped to create.
