Up for Grabs

"It's always better to climb from the bottom up and surprise people," said UB softball head coach Marie Curran.

Curran's team is doing just that. UB started at 12th in the Mid-American Conference their first season in 2001 and moved up to ninth last year. If they move up another three spots, they will make the playoffs.

"It is really up for grabs," said Curran. "I wouldn't be surprised if going into the last week in the season, we still don't know who is playing the following weekend. That means that every game counts, and every MAC game we play is important."

The Bulls travel to Marshall this weekend for the first Mid-American Conference game of the season. They have already completed their non-conference schedule with a record of 6-8. Often the pre-season schedule is against tougher opponents than they face in the MAC.

"We just played Tennessee, Florida International, Baylor, Hawaii, who are all in the top 50 in the country. And we beat three of the four of those teams," said Curran.

Baylor was the 25th ranked team in the nation when the Bulls beat them 1-0 on March 6. They have also already bested Kent State, which was favored to finish high in the East Division of the MAC in preseason polling.

"Beating Kent State was big for us. It gave us a little bit of confidence to face the other MAC schools," said junior pitcher Heather Robbins.

In the pre-season MAC coaches poll, Central Michigan was heavily favored to win the MAC and the West Division for the 2003 season, with 89 out of 91 possible points. The runner-up in the West was Ball State with 67 points. Ohio was favored to win the East Division, with 62 out of 78 points.

The votes were more evenly split in the East Division, where Marshall ranked second with 56 points. Buffalo was ranked fifth of the six East Division schools.

"I am definitely confident that we are going to finish higher than that," said Curran.

The top six schools play each other at the end of the season for the MAC Championship in May, and the winner of that tournament automatically goes to the NCAA tournament. Central Michigan won the MAC last year. Buffalo has never finished among the top six schools.

At pitcher, sophomore Stacey Evans leads the Bulls. Evans, whose ERA is 1.86 so far, has earned the MAC East Pitcher of the Week honor twice already for her preseason performances. Her single-season strikeout record, set last season at 101, ranks third all time for UB pitchers.

"Stacey Evans, our sophomore pitcher, is doing a phenomenal job. Our first weekend, she had an ERA of 0.33. ... The next weekend, she pitched against Baylor and shut them out," said Curran. "Not only is she starting, but she is coming in and finishing games. Against Kent State she came in and struck out seven of the eight batters she faced."

Also at pitcher are seniors Jessica Kensy and Andrea Sage and junior Heather Robbins. Sage and Robbins are the only two pitchers of all time at Buffalo with more strikeouts in a season than Evans. Kensy holds the record of most games played on the team, at 111. Kensy also starts at first base; last year, she had a .986 fielding percentage from first.

In the infield, the Bulls have juniors Dominique Jones, Jessica Labella and Marce Ross, freshman Lauren Picciano, and sophomore twin sisters Melissa and Erica Pace. Julie Hibner will see the bulk of the action at catcher.

In the outfield, UB has freshman Lisa Wheat, sophomores Ann Magur and Jackie O'Brien, and junior Allison Round. Wheat red-shirted last year, and she has contributed this preseason already.

"Lisa is an amazing comeback story, someone who persevered from almost getting killed in a car accident to getting her first ever colligate hit against Hawaii (in this year's preseason). Every day she is getting better," said Curran.

UB is led offensively by junior Breanne Nasti, who earned first team All-MAC honors for her performance last year. Nasti set both UB and MAC single season batting records last year with an average of .451 (51/113). Nasti was also named the team's MVP. Magur had a batting average of .342 and .966 fielding average. She was named to the second team All-MAC for her accomplishments last season.

Curran is coaching her fourth year at UB. She has been at the helm since softball's inclusion among the Varsity Sports at Buffalo in 2000. Last her club had a 13-25 record, 8-16 in the MAC. They finished out the year strong, winning eight out of their last 13 games, and four out of their final five.