The Georgetown softball team (18-26, 7-6 Big East) enters the weekend somewhere that few would have thought possible a month ago: fifth place in the Big East.

The league this year is divided into two clear tiers. The first contains USF, Louisville, Notre Dame and DePaul, all of whom have double-digit numbers of conference wins and only one league loss.

Atop the second tier sit the Hoyas. The only member of the top tier that Georgetown has played is Notre Dame — a fact that has certainly helped its record — but nevertheless, the Blue and Gray have shown themselves to be a team to reckon with in the Big East this year.

Georgetown’s conference play has come as somewhat of a surprise after the Hoyas entered Big East competition with an 8-20 record.

Head Coach Pat Conlan attributes the turnaround to an improvement in consistency.

“Every part of our game right now is consistent,” Conlan said. “Every game we play early on is to prepare us for the conference season. The benefit of playing half of our schedule prior to our first Big East game is that you get the cobwebs off.”

Georgetown received a bit of a respite from the rigors of conference play this week when it took on University of Maryland-Baltimore County (8-33, 1-11 America East) Wednesday afternoon.

The Hoyas displayed impressive discipline at the plate and took advantage of some wild pitching by the Retrievers to draw a season-high 10 walks and cruise to a comfortable 8-3 victory.

Although the victory did not affect the Blue and Gray’s standing in the Big East, Conlan did not downplay its importance.

“We use our non-conference games to stay sharp for conference [play],” she said.

Georgetown returns to Big East play this weekend with a trip to Providence, R.I, for a three-game series against the last-place Friars (14-23-1, 2-9 Big East).

Although the Friars have lost their past five conference games, all five defeats have come at the hands of No. 24 USF and No. 8 Louisville, two elite teams not only in the conference but also in the country as a whole.

Throwing records out the window, then, Conlan is sure that her team will not overlook Providence.

“I have been around long enough to know how well-coached they are and what kind of team they put out on the field,” Conlan said. “Our league is tough from top to bottom, and there are still enough games for everyone to make a run at going to the Big East tournament.”

For the Hoyas, reaching the Big East tournament has been the goal since the start of the season; it is something that Georgetown has not accomplished in its four years of playing in the Big East.

Conlan, however, knows that the team has a lot to work on and a long way to go before it can celebrate.

“[We need] to work on limiting little mistakes. We give teams too many opportunities that they continue to take advantage of,” Conlan said. “We are in a good place, but we still have a great deal of work left to do. We will be ready for Providence.”