2014 was a landmark season for the Georgetown softball team — it secured its first winning record in program history and had four players earn all-conference honors. A close loss to St. John’s ended its season in the Big East championship semifinals, but the Hoyas showed they will be a force to be reckoned with in the future.
“Georgetown started the year with all but two of its players from last season, its five seniors providing the advantage of experience and leadership to the team. It gives us a better foundation to work from. Coming into practice, we don’t have to relearn a lot of stuff. Kids understand it, they’ve been through the trenches, and now we have to build on that and challenge them a little bit more,” Head Coach Pat Conlan told The Hoya in August.
The Blue and Gray’s season began in Florida, a welcome change from the D.C. winter that cancelled numerous practices. Despite those obstacles, they went 2-3 on their first weekend and hit .500 after 14 games at the beginning of March. That’s when things took off.
It started with the 49er Invitational Championship. In the tournament, the Blue and Gray recorded four wins — all shutouts — and rebounded from a 23-2 loss to Charlotte to beat them 10-0 for the championship. Junior pitcher Megan Hyson went 3-0 that weekend with a no-hitter and two shutouts. Her performance earned her Most Valuable Pitcher of the Invitational and Big East Pitcher of the Week.
Their momentum continued on a spring break trip to Southern California, where the Hoyas faced five strong western teams. Although they did not record a win on the trip, it was their tough play against then-No. 4 UCLA that jumpstarted their nine-game winning streak on the East Coast.
By the end of the season, Georgetown had secured a 12-8 Big East record, good for third in the conference, and went 26-22 overall, their first winning record since the program was founded nine years ago.
Georgetown’s five seniors — Elyse Graziano, Hannah Slovacek, Allie Anttila, Madeleine Giaquinto and Rachel Nersesian — led the team in terms of production but also in leadership.
“We have fantastic leadership — we have five seniors who have quite a bit of experience … so I think the leadership has helped a somewhat young team. Their dynamic is pretty incredible, they’re just fun to be around. They work hard, they have tremendous character, and I think it’s a team who is on a mission,” Conlan said at the beginning of the season.
Their mission was to make it back to the Big East championships, and they did, riding strong production in clutch moments from a variety of players and the arms of pitchers Hyson and fellow junior Lauren O’Leary. The Hoyas took advantage of their versatile roster, receiving runs and RBIs from all nine spots in the lineup. Even though they could not pull off the victory against St. John’s to advance in the tournament, their season was filled with unprecedented success for both the players and the coaches.
Conlan has coached the team since its inception nine years ago, when she held open tryouts to field a team without a single recruit. The squad has been on a sharp upward progression since then, surpassing last year’s record of 21 wins and returning to the conference playoffs for the second year in a row. And while they’ll be losing five players to graduation, the program’s strength comes all the way from its early days, when it championed grit and hustle but lacked experience. Those efforts are still integral to today’s more polished team — Conlan takes pride in the full effort her team puts into every game, and it’s that quality that led it to its most successful season yet.
