Softball Starts Season at Fastpitch Dreams Spring Classic

BOSTON – Suffolk softball has packed its bags and headed south this week for its eight-game Spring Training Trip that sent the Rams to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, for the Fastpitch Dreams Spring Classic. The blue-and-gold opens the action and its 2022 campaign Saturday, March 12 and will play five doubleheaders in six days. 

SOCIAL SAYINGS
Ram Nation has a chance to keep up with all the latest news and notes on Suffolk Athletics, its student-athletes and teams by following the Rams on  Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Fans are encouraged to use the hashtag #RamNation a behind-the-scene look at Suffolk Athletics.

A LOOK BACK
Suffolk's first season in the CCC was unconventional and condescend due to COVID-19. The Rams managed to get in 19 games, 13 of which countered towards a league ledger. The blue-and-gold's 6-7 conference mark from last season was just outside the postseason bubble, a wrong the Rams look to right this year.  

RAMS RETURNERS
Ten Rams are back in blue-and-gold this season, nine of who competed in Suffolk's inaugural CCC campaign in which it went 12-17 overall and 6-7 against conference counterparts. 

Caitlin Murphy, a three-time all-conference performer, who has proven to be one of the stealthiest Rams on the bases with 52 career stolen bases, returns for her senior season. A staple in center field since her freshman campaign, has built a career slash line of .365/.440/.456 with 88 career hits, 65 runs scored and 22 RBI.

Murphy's classmates Karina Bua and Bianca Luciano will add depth to the outfield.

Third baseman Ally Cifaratta has had a very unconventional collegiate career thus far with a freshman campaign called short and a sophomore season condescend, both due to COVID.

The infielder has made the most of it and collected All-CCC First-Team honors a year ago after producing 35 hits, including eight doubles, on a .357 connection rate at the plate to go along with 21 RBI and 22 runs scored.

Savannah Scripter has experience in the infield as well on the opposite corner of Cifaratta.

Suffolk's circle brings back Kennedy Reyes and Alexa White.

Reyes tossed 69.0 innings over 14 games last season and put together a 4.46 ERA with 52 strikeouts.

White, meanwhile, took last year off, but looks to pick up where she left off in 2020. In seven appearances three starts, the right-handed twirler assembled a 1.70 ERA in 24.2 frames of work with 21 Ks.

RAMS ROOKIES
Suffolk softball will see a dozen new faces featured on the line-up card, head coach Janet Maguire. 

The group features 11 true freshmen in Ava Brandow, Ashlyn Conley, Delaney Doidge, Lily Gustafson, Ashley King, Julia Newcomb, Haley Oteri, Jolie Quintana, Diana Rucinski, Ella Turnbull and Rebecca Zellin and one junior, Jenny Jacob.

MORE READING: Twelve Join Softball for 2022 

GEOGRAPHY 101
Suffolk's geographical makeup spreads seven states. Ten Rams are Massachusetts products with four coming to the Bay State from New Jersey. A pair hail from California, New York and Rhode Island with one student-athlete representing Connecticut and Florida, respectively. 

CLASS CATEGORIES
The Rams' 22-player roster is built primarily of underclassmen with 14 broken down to 11 freshmen and three sophomores. The eight remaining players are split evenly between juniors and seniors with four members of each class. 

RAMS RINGLEADERS
It's officially game week for the 2022 Suffolk softball season and leading up to the opener head coach Janet Maguire has dubbed a pair of seniors in Caitlin Murphy and Kennedy Reyes as co-captains. 

The duo is the fewest number of captains for the Rams since Lindsay Pagano '17 wore donned the C by herself in 2017, while they are the first twosome to share the responsibilities since Meredith Ball '16 and Nicole Isakson '16 teamed up as co-captains in 2016. Both Murphy and Reyes begin their first terms in the leadership position. 

MORE READING: Murphy, Reyes to Co-Captain Softball in 2022

COACH'S CORNER
Janet Maguire begins her first season at the helm of the Suffolk softball program. Hired in the fall of 2021, Maguire is the 11th head coach to lead the Rams in the program's 38-year history. 

Maguire has assembled a coaching staff with a full-time assistant, Michelle Zullo, and a pair of two volunteer assistants, former Ram Ashley Zulla, and Sharon Crugnale.

PRESEASON PREDICTIONS
The Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) released the 2022 Softball Coaches' Preseason Poll Tuesday morning and according to the panel of 10 CCC head coaches, the Suffolk softball team is slated to finish seventh. 

MORE READING: Softball Spotted Seventh in CCC Preseason Coaches' Poll 

LEADING OFF

• Since 1987, Suffolk is 8-26 in the first game of the season.
• Starting in 1995 the rams took a neutral field on day one of the season and have picked up six of their opening day victories on neutral turf.
• A year ago, Suffolk lifted the lid on its campaign in Boston for the first time since 1994. 

FASTPITCH FOE FACTS
Suffolk is scheduled to play 10 games against nine different opponents, all of who start their respective campaigns in Myrtle Beach as well. Eight of the foes are fresh for the Rams, while Albertus Magnus is back on the Rams' slate for the first time since 2019. 

• ALBIRGHT – WEBSITE | SCHEDULE | ROSTER 
  
  
• ALBERTUS MAGNUS – WEBSITE | SCHEDULE | ROSTER | STATS
  INSIDE THE SERIES
  • Suffolk leads the all-time series with Albertus Magnus, 36-16. 
  • The Rams last met the Falcons in New Haven, Connecticut, April 23, 2019. 
  • Suffolk split that twinbill with AMC. The Rams fell in game one, 8-1, and won the nightcap, 7-2.
    
• FITCHBURG STATE – WEBSITE | SCHEDULE | ROSTER | STATS
  
  
• FRANCISCAN – WEBSITE | SCHEDULE | ROSTER | STATS
  
  
• FRANKLIN PIERCE – WEBSITE | SCHEDULE | ROSTER 
  
  
• ST. JOSEPH'S (BROOKLYN) – WEBSITE | SCHEDULE | ROSTER | STATS
  
  
• SUNY POLY – WEBSITE | SCHEDULE | ROSTER | STATS
  
  
• STEVENSON – WEBSITE | SCHEDULE | ROSTER | STATS
  
  
• WORCESTER STATE – WEBSITE | SCHEDULE | ROSTER | STATS

SUFFOLK'S SCHEDULE
Once back in Boston, Suffolk has a few days off before its New England debut that sends the Rams across town to Emerson. The city clash double feature has a 3 p.m. game-one first pitch.