Softball Set to Begin First Season as GNAC Member Down in Florida
NEW LONDON, Conn. – After a long offseason, the Mitchell College softball team is on the verge of kicking off the 2024 season, marking their first as a member of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC). The Mariners, who were projected to finish fifth in the South Division in the 2024 GNAC Preseason Coaches' Poll, will officially get underway in Kissimmee, Florida, on Saturday, March 8th, with games against Augsburg University and Suffolk University.
Much will look the same for a Mitchell team that set a program record with 24 victories in 2023, and are expected to return five seniors, including four players who were named to the New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) All Conference First-Team last spring.
The most significant difference will be in the dugout, as Samantha Hynes enters her first year at the helm of the program and will be making her collegiate head coaching debut with the Mariners. Hynes comes to Mitchell after most recently spending two seasons as an assistant coach at Division I Bryant University. With the Bulldogs, she was heavily involved in recruiting, skill development, practice planning, strength & conditioning, along with administrative and managerial duties, including planning, scheduling, budgeting, and fundraising. Prior to her time at Bryant, Hynes was the head varsity softball coach at Cheshire Academy from 2013-2020. During her tenure in Cheshire, her teams earned four WNEPGSA Championships and made six-straight WNEPGSA Championship appearances.
Following Saturday's season opening doubleheader, the Mariners will play eight more games over the ensuring five days during their annual spring break trip, squaring off against Ohio Northern University, Utica University, the University of Pittsburgh Greensburg, SUNY Cortland, Trinity College, the College of St. Scholastica, Marywood University, and Ohio Wesleyan University.
Upon returning north, Mitchell will host Rhode Island College in their home opening non-conference doubleheader on Tuesday, March 19th. Out of conference showdowns against Roger Williams University, Nichols College, and the Coast Guard Academy follow, before the Mariners begin GNAC play on Saturday, April 6th, at home against Elms College. Teams will play a doubleheader against each team in their division to determine divisional standings. Competing in the South Division with the Mariners is Johnson & Wales University, Albertus Magnus College, Lasell University, the University of Saint Joseph, Regis College, Dean College, and Elms College.
The top five teams in each division at the end of the regular season will qualify for the 2024 GNAC Softball Championship Tournament, which will begin with a single-elimination Play-In round featuring the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds in each division on Tuesday, April 30th. Following the Play-In games, the teams will be split into two, four-team double-elimination pods. Pod Play will take place from Thursday, May 2nd to Sunday, May 5th with the winners of each team advancing to a best-of-three GNAC Championship Series. The Championship Series is scheduled for Friday-Saturday, May 10th-11th with the winner earning the title of 2024 GNAC Softball Champion and the league's automatic qualifier into the 2024 NCAA Division III Softball Championship.
The Mariners return five seniors and six players who were named to the NECC All Conference First-Team last spring. This includes senior pitcher Katelyn Lipsky (Planstville, Conn.), infielder Sarah Aviles (Griswold, Conn.) and outfielders Jenna Bennett (Shelton, Conn.) and Hannah Lemke (East Haddan, Conn.), along with junior infielder Gemma Landry (Lewiston, ME) and catcher Brooke Whitmarsh (Portsmouth, R.I.).
On the mound, Mitchell will be led by the one-two punch of Lipsky and junior Emily Reynolds (Seymour, Conn.).
Lipsky was named NECC Pitcher of the Year for the second straight season in 2023, finishing tied for the conference lead with 11 wins. Her 97 strikeouts and 6.43 strikeouts per game were most in the NECC, while her 3.18 ERA was second in the league, and she was also second in the conference with 13 complete games. Additionally, Reynolds sported a record of 10-9 with two shutouts and posted a 2.80 ERA in 122.1 innings of work.
The Mariners will conclude their regular season with a GNAC doubleheader a Lasell University on Sunday, April 28th.
