Centennial Conference Championship Central
HAVERFORD, Pa – The Haverford College softball team clinched a spot in the Centennial Conference Tournament for the fourth consecutive season last weekend. The Fords (20-18, 9-7 CC) enter the double-elimination tournament as the No. 4 seed and will travel to top-seeded Washington College (20-18, 11-5 CC) this Friday as the tournament gets underway for these teams at 4 p.m.
The Class of 2016 is the first in program history to make the conference tournament in each of its four seasons and has 100 wins during that time to make them the winningest class in program history. They were also sophomore members of the program's last championship season in 2014.
The Fords' experienced upperclassmen will be on display in the circle this weekend. Sara Tauriello enters the weekend first in program history in ERA (1.73), wins (40), strikeouts (341), strikeouts per seven innings (7.29), and opponent's batting average (.222). She has also broken the single season records in each of those categories during her career. Emily Winesett is leading the team with nine wins in the circle this year. She is just one win behind Tauriello as she has 39 career victories to go along with a 2.44 career ERA. She has set the program record for most appearances in the circle (90).
Kendall Chambers, a junior, enters the weekend with the staff's best ERA this season at 2.90. Her ERA has dropped to 2.26 in conference contests – the fourth best mark among her Centennial Conference peers. She will also see time at designated player where she is batting .295 on the season with four home runs.
Other seniors in the Fords' lineup include Kristin Tatum and Miwa Wenzel. Tatum is currently leading the Centennial Conference in home runs with eight. She already has the top four home run hitting seasons during her Haverford career for a program-record 25 long balls. She is batting .295 on the year and has scored and driven in 23 runs. Wenzel enters the weekend as a career .244 hitter. She is currently second on the team in stolen bases.
The sophomore class is headlined by reigning Centennial Conference Rookie of the Year Jessica Koshinski. Koshinski batted .306 during the entire regular season with five home runs, but has boosted that average to .412 in conference competition. Her 29 RBI lead the team and rank third in the conference. Alex Craig and Emily Gorman will fill the corner outfield slots this weekend. Craig is batting .236 in her first year as a starter and is coming off a weekend in which she hit her first career home run, a go-ahead blast, against Gettysburg. Gorman has scored and driven in eight runs from the eighth slot in the lineup.
Three freshmen have filled the top slots in the Fords' lineup this season. Rachel Wolfson is batting .295 out of the leadoff spot and has a team-best 11 stolen bases. Julia Blake has also swiped 11 bases this season and is leading the team with a .357 batting average. Her 26 runs scored lead the team and rank among the best in the Centennial Conference. Kaitlyn Guild is ranked second on the team in batting average with a .339 mark. She has scored and driven in 21 runs this season.
The Fords and Shorewomen split the regular season series as Haverford took a 10-2 run-rule victory in five innings behind a strong outing from Tauriello and at least two RBI from three different players in the lineup. The Shorewomen salvaged the split on the Class of '95 Field with an 8-7 victory in game two.
Second-seeded Gettysburg (25-11, 11-5 CC) and third-seeded McDaniel (24-16, 10-6 CC) will also join the tournament field this weekend in Chestertown. The Bullets were the only team in the conference to take two wins from Haverford, while the Green Terror and Fords split their regular season doubleheader.