The Massachusetts softball team has played its first 17 games on the road so far, with plenty more to come before its first home contest on March 30. But if UMass is suffering from any sort of homesickness, it hasn’t exactly affected their play.

The Minutewomen will take their 10-7 record to the road yet again when they head to the Sunshine State for the second straight weekend for the Blue and Gold Tournament in Miami, Fla. This will be the fourth invitational for UMass on this young season, and again will feature tough competition from all over the nation, including four nationally ranked opponents. But despite all of the trips to the sunny South of the United States, the Maroon and White won’t be sad to leave the sun for more overcast Northeast weather.

“There’s nothing enjoyable about living out of a suitcase, but we just don’t have the weather,” Head Coach Elaine Sortino said.

First up in Miami for the Minutewomen is Illinois-Chicago, a team that defeated them 2-1 on Feb. 24. In that game, UMass surrendered two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to drop a heartbreaker, so it will look to even the score when it takes on the Flames on Friday as well as on March 19.

“As much as I don’t want to play them [up to] four times, I think they’ll be a good team to play,” Sortino said. UIC enters the game with a 16-8 record, including a victory over No. 4 Nebraska to its credit.

Also slated on the UMass schedule is Florida International, which enters the tournament with a 19-16 record. The Golden Panthers have wins over Florida, Florida Atlantic, and UConn, among other teams this year.

“They’re going to be deceiving,” Sortino said. “They were in the national rankings, I think they’ve just getting off to a slow start.”

And last but not least, the Minutewomen will be taking on fellow Atlantic 10 opponent Fordham. UMass swept three games from the Rams last season, and will be looking to do the same again in Miami, as Fordham has a meager 2-5 record in 2002. However, Sortino was not pleased when discovering that the Rams were in the same tournament, saying that she did not want to have to play a conference opponent while participating in a non-conference tournament.

At the Seminole Invitational last weekend, the Maroon and White finished as the winner of the Gold Bracket consolation championship, finishing with four wins against two losses. Pitching was again what propelled the Minutewomen to victory, as they were able to produce several fine performances on the weekend, highlighted by one of the team’s newcomers. In only her second start at UMass, freshman Kelli Arnold blanked Providence and gave up only a bloop single as the Minutewomen romped, 8-0. Arnold continues to impress as she has posted a microscopic 0.72 ERA in five appearances while whiffing 13 hitters. The Maroon and White also picked up wins against Southeastern Louisiana, Southern Illinois, and No. 22 Florida State. The pitching has been the “name of the game” all year according to Sortino, and is the main reason that her squad has been able to beat teams such as No. 3 Stanford.

“Good pitching keeps you in any game, and that’s why we’ve gotten some of our huge wins,” Sortino said. “[But] hitting will come and go.”

The Minutewoman lineup has also begun to receive solid contributions from up and down the lineup. Leadoff hitter/shortstop Emily Robustelli and first baseman Brandi Cross throttled opposing pitchers, each producing eight hits in the Invitational, with Cross driving in a team-high six runners and Robustelli crossing the plate five times. Scooter Wheeler also cracked her first home run of the year against the Friars, giving her a school-record 18 four-baggers for her career.

Simply put, the Minutewomen want to begin their Atlantic 10 season as soon as possible, because Sortino said the lack of games played compared to California or Florida schools has kept them out of the Top 25. Once they can start into the bulk of their schedule, the score will become more even.

Because in two weeks, at the first home game on March 30, according to Sortino it will be “the best day in the world for a UMass softball player.”