After sweeping a doubleheader against Lake Forest on Thursday, the Maroons prepare for weekend games against UW-Whitewater and Lawrence.

Against the Flying Dutch, the South Siders will also look to get back in the habit of playing with confidence, as they’ve aimed to do all season.

Maroons struggle against North Central in cold, blustery weather

Maroons need to be nearly perfect the rest of the way out to make playoffs

Maroons split their penultimate regular season away game.

Softball won once and lost twice at NCAAs this past weekend. Seniors on the team returned to national competition for the first time since their freshman year.

The Maroons received an at-large bid to play in the Division Championship this weekend.

Kathleen Duffy set a home run record in the final doubleheader of the season.

Softball trounced Beloit Tuesday before splitting a double-header against North Central at their last home game of the season Thursday.

Strong pitching and their dependable hitting led Chicago to two straight wins.

Fourth-year Kathleen Duffy set the record for most RBIs in Chicago’s softball history.

The Maroons still struggle with defense as they seized one out of two tight games played at home against Oshkosh.

Maroons dominate Wheaton in game one, fall 5-4 in game two on Monday after shut-out spring break in Florida.

The softball team looks to regain its poise after a tough series of doubleheaders. To improve their record the women will need to step up their defense.

The softball team look to regain their poise after a tough series of doubleheaders. To improve their record the women will need to step up their defense

Softball’s doubleheader Tuesday was a fitting end to an up-and-down season, as the Maroons split two games against Wheaton.
The Maroons (14–14) leaned on first-year pitcher Sarah Neuhaus’ strong performance off the mound in the first game again the Thunder (18–21), winning 1–0, before dropping a 6–4 decision in the second game.

Head coach Ruth Kmak entered the 2009 season as the winningest softball coach in the program’s 41-year history. After a sweep of Hope College this weekend, she notched her 200th victory in the Chicago dugout.

The six-game losing streak is over for softball, but a team that started the season 10–4 is still without a perfect day in over two weeks.

In a 38-day season, there isn’t such a thing as rest. With 18 games—more than half of the softball team’s calendar—in the books through the first three weeks of the season, softball got the closest thing to rest that it could this week: five days off. Five days gave the Maroons time to reflect on a solid first half, time to go work out the kinks that have fed their season-high four-game losing streak, and time to get ready for the toughest part of the schedule: a 12-day, 14-game stretch to close the season.

Softball headed into this weekend’s doubleheader boasting a solid season by any measure: a 10–6 record, just one less win than they had all of last season, and no losing streak longer than two games.

It was a good weekend for softball, at least until Mother Nature showed up Sunday and pitched a no-hitter.

The University of Chicago softball team returned from their spring break trip to Clermont, FL, relaxed, a bit tanner, and with seven wins in their pocket.

As a lefty catcher, fourth-year Vanessa Pineros drew attention the minute she stepped behind the plate. What really set her apart within the Maroons, though, wasn’t which hand she wore her glove on but her confidence as a player and…

Despite some of its best overall performances of the season, softball was bedeviled by the details of the game in its final weekend of play. Although the Maroons (11–19) outhit their competition 28–25 Saturday and Sunday, the team dropped three…

Softball’s rocky 2008 campaign can be best described so far as a tale of two seasons, marked by bursts of dominance followed by dry spells. Looking to establish some sort of consistency on the field and at the plate with…

Two different Chicago softball teams hosted North Central at Stagg Sunday. The Maroons of the first game played a crisp defense and pushed extra innings, while the Maroons in the nightcap committed five errors and couldn’t rebound from a chaotic…

After splitting a doubleheader yesterday, softball is still looking for the spark to its season. A 5–2 win over Wheaton opened the day for the Maroons, but they couldn’t carry the momentum into the nightcap, and they dropped the second…

The softball team looked as if they were headed for an endless downward spiral, but a brilliant performance Saturday may have turned their fortunes around for the rest of the season. In a weekend filled with bad weather in Bloomington…

Carrying over a rivalry from Little League to D-III athletics, members of the softball squad hosted their old childhood teammates and opponents at Stagg. Filling its lineup with its top sluggers against Chicago’s young pitching staff, UW–Whitewater (13–3) won both…

It was hit or miss for softball during their spring break trip to Tucson, with the Maroons winning easily one day and falling hard the next. The Maroons aren’t in the desert anymore, but getting back to Chicago hasn’t leveled…

As softball’s season began in the Arizona desert over vacation, they had to figure out how to adjust to a new group of younger players. The team, whose record on the spring break trip was 4–6, got off to a…

The Recap: Last year, softball rode the long ball all the way to the playoffs for its second straight at-large bid to the postseason. The Maroons will try to make it three in a row this spring and hope to…

In her first two seasons as a Maroon, Petra Wade took a comfortable backseat to All-American Hannah Roberts (A.B. ’06) in pitching duties, starting in just under half of Chicago’s games. Yet when the unexpected departure of Roberts and two…

Winning in the postseason takes a high level of play and more than a little bit of luck. Unfortunately for softball, the squad caught some tough breaks in its second-consecutive NCAA run. After pulling out a 2–0 edging of St….

For Chicago softball, Thursday’s matchup with Coe had all the makings of an instant classic. There was the fourth-year ace notching strikeout after strikeout from the circle. There was clutch, injury-be-damned defense from its left fielder. There was timely hitting,…

Last season, softball took advantage of its surprise postseason selection to pull off a first-round upset of third-seeded Coe. Returning to the NCAAs with a high-flying offense and deeper pitching staff, the Maroons look to repeat their opening game triumph…

After a Cinderella season last spring, time was running out for softball to show it could still make the glass slipper fit. With a pair of wins required to preserve its NCAA hopes, the Maroons relied on the long ball…

After finally receiving a week of sunshine, softball hoped that the beautiful practice conditions would help the squad bust out of its slight slump and return to its early-season form. Despite the change in the weather, however, Chicago faced more…

After watching balls fly over the fences early in the season, softball bats have gone quiet in recent weeks. Looking for a return to form in Michigan, the Maroons traveled to Hope for a day-night doubleheader and found some late-inning…

Since their 10–2 start to the year in Florida, softball has been practically untouchable thanks largely to a powered-up offense that complimented a deeper-pitching staff. The Illinois Wesleyan University Tournament saw both of these improved parts of Chicago’s game get…

Of all the Bull Durham clichés that float around the diamond every spring, “it’s a long season” may well be the most repeated. Every time a team endures some disheartening defeat, that particular aphorism pops out like line drives from…

The temperatures may be dropping again, but there’s no denying that softball is in full swing and ready for another busy spring. After opening the season with an 8–2 record from their week in the Sunshine State, the Maroons (10–4)…

After posting an impressive 8-–2 mark against tournament-caliber competition during their spring break trip, softball has every reason to feel confident about the 2007 season. Chicago can boast of a solid cluster of veterans at key positions and a host…

For a little while at least, “Team Disney” seemed destined for a fairy-tale ending. But after an opening-round upset at the Great Lakes regional, softball received a cold, harsh dose of reality. Needing four wins to advance to the national…

“One game at a time” was the mantra head coach Ruth Kmak adopted for softball before the NCAA tournament. If the Maroons can continue to play like they did Thursday, those games might just start to add up. Spurred on…

The season might not quite be finished yet for softball, but the National Fastpitch Coaches Association has clearly seen enough. Three Maroons were named to the Louisville Slugger/NFCA Division III All–Great Lakes Region team, the organization announced Tuesday. Third-year ace…

A week ago, it hardly seemed possible. But despite ending the regular season with a whimper, softball is back in the NCAA tournament for the first time in three years. Riding a strong schedule and benefiting from the expansion of…