Two Consecutive Road Days For Softball
ALBANY, N.Y. – With the regular season winding to a close, and all home games on the schedule completed, the University at Albany softball program hits the road for the final six remaining games before the postseason begins. The first three games of the six feature rematches with teams UAlbany (25-10, 11-3) has already played this season. Tomorrow, the Danes will play one game at Siena (25-19), and on Wednesday the team will head south to West Point to play a doubleheader with Army (22-22).
“The rematches offer a better indication of how far we have come this season,” said head coach Chris Cannata. “It’s a better gauge of how we are progressing.”
UAlbany actually opened its home schedule this year against Siena, after the original opening series against Binghamton was postponed due to inclement weather. UAlbany swept the doubleheader that day, winning the first game 6-1 and the second game 10-7. The Danes played Army even earlier in the season, at the Rebel Spring Games back in March. Army took the first game 2-0 and UAlbany won the second 6-2.
“We didn’t hit well against Siena,” said Cannata, “and I don’t think we played particularly well against Army. But we’re starting to hit better, and hit for power. We just need to try to make better adjustments during games.”
In many of their games this season, UAlbany has managed to put points on the board in the first inning, taking early leads and getting the engine going offensively.
“It’s been important for us to score early,” said Cannata. “It sets the tone for the game, and allows our players to relax a bit.”
The America East tournament quickly approaches, and is scheduled to kick off on Thursday, May 8. The remaining regular season schedule has been adjusted somewhat, and UAlbany will now play their final series on Friday and Saturday, instead of Saturday and Sunday, in case weather delays some of the games. This way, teams won’t have to stick around on a Monday to finish a series that may eventually determine seeding in the tournament. For now, Coach Cannata is looking to keep her team focused and ready.
“We need to sharpen up a bit defensively in this last week,” she said. “There are still some things we can do better defensively. And we need to keep our hitters in rhythm, now that we’ve started to hit a bit more.”
The Siena game kicks off tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. Wednesday, the first game against Army starts at 3:30 p.m., followed by the second game at 5:30 p.m. The Danes will depart for Baltimore on Thursday for the regular season closing series against UMBC.
