1999 Softball Preview:

Two UMass Dartmouth veterans help carry
Corsair softball team through 1999 season

(Dartmouth, MA) -- With only two returning veterans on the roster, UMass Dartmouth softball coach Marilyn Ritz entered the 1999 season with virtually a brand new Corsair softball team. Although UMass Dartmouth finished with a 6-24 record, it became clear by the end of the season who the Corsairs would be looking to for leadership next season.

Prior to the season, Coach Ritz knew she would be counting heavily on sophomore Jen McGuiness (East Taunton, MA), who returned to the team following a year out of school and Erin LaPerriere (Freetown, MA). Both players were among the Corsairs top offensive players during the season and can be counted on as leaders for next season.

LaPerriere led the Corsairs with a .286 batting average, connecting for 18 hits in 63 at bats and a team-leading nine runs batted in. McGuiness came through for the Corsairs, leading the team in three offensive categories, including hits (25), runs (13), total bases (31), while finishing second in batting average at .272.

UMass Dartmouth's third leading hitter was a newcomer to the program over from the field hockey team, sophomore Paula Malcom (Milford, MA). In 29 games for UMass Dartmouth, Malcom posted a .286 batting average with 19 hits in 73 at bats. Among the Corsairs' other top hitters for the 1999 season were sophomore Jessica Braley (Acushnet, MA) (.246, 8 RBI) and first-year player Susan Herriott (Westminster, MA) (.213, 6 RBI). Sophomore pitcher Erika Roderiques (Freetown, MA) helped her own cause on the mound with a .210 batting average and a tie for team-high in runs batted in with nine.

One of the biggest unanswered question at the beginning of the season was who was going to fill the void on the mound, following the departure of Jessica Boudreau. Thirty games later, Roderiques, a transfer student from Rhode Island College, proved she was the Corsairs' pitcher of the future. Roderiques appeared in all 30 of UMass Dartmouth games and despite her 6-24 won-loss record, compiled a very respectable 3.58 earned run average in 178.3 innings of pitching. She walked 72 while striking out 77 and allowed only 90 earned runs while pitching 29 complete games.

The Corsairs finished the 1999 season with a 2-12 mark in the Little East Conference and were eliminated from the LEC Championship Tournament following a 3-0 loss to Southern Maine in the first round of the tournament.

UMass Dartmouth played some of its best softball of the season on their season-opening trip to Fort Myers, Florida. The Corsairs posted a 3-4 mark in the Gene Cusick Collegiate Classic in Fort Myers with victories over Wesleyan University, Babson College and Amherst College.