There were mixed feelings for Massachusetts softball coach Elaine Sortino after her team, the Massachusetts softball team (1-4), squandered a 2-0 lead to No. 8/7 California and eventually fell to the Golden Bears, 3-2, in the eighth inning on Feb. 12 at the Campbell/Carrier Tournament in San Diego, Ca.

“It was like falling off a cliff,” Sortino said of the heartbreaking loss. “We were on the first-base side dugout, the runner came through first-base and the umpire punched her out and I closed my book. And then I looked up and two runners had scored, and I was like, ‘Wait a minute, what just happened?'”

The two Cal runners tied the game off of unearned runs in the seventh and then managed to score another unearned run in the eighth to take the victory away from the Minutewomen – a result that did not sit well with Sortino, or any of her players.

“It was really unsettling,” Sortino said. “I don’t think any of us will ever forget that.”

While the loss was hard for the Minutewomen to digest, Sortino was more than pleased with the way two of her six rookies had performed during that entire weekend – and the A-10 concurred.

Following the Campbell/Carrier Tournament, freshman Whitney Mollica was named the A-10 Player/Rookie of the Week and freshman Brandice Balschmiter was honored as the Pitcher of the Week, as the two newcomers swept the weekly conference awards.

At the tournament, Mollica had a batting average of .333, tallied a double, a triple, two RBIs and was walked three times. Her slugging percentage during the Minutewomen’s first weekend of play was a team-high .583, but it was one at bat that was most vital.

In the bottom of the sixth inning during Game 2 of the tourney, Mollica stepped to the plate with two runners on base as UMass was fighting a 1-0 deficit to Sacramento State. The freshman then proceeded to crank a two-run triple to center field, giving the Minutewomen a 2-1 advantage and the eventual win.

In that same contest, it was Balschmiter who was able to hold Sacramento State to just one run, while posting six strikeouts during her first collegiate complete game.

Balschmiter’s most monumental showing came the following Sunday against Cal. In that 3-2 near-upset, Balschmiter faced 31 batters while allowing just six hits and striking out nine. Throughout the weekend, Balschmiter accumulated an ERA of 1.70.

It was the fact that it was a freshman beating one of the top teams in the nation in Cal that impressed Sortino the most, and despite the eventual end result of the game, the future appears bright.

“For us to be a great team this year, the freshman class is going to have to have a nominal contribution to the year’s results,” Sortino said. “I think that we’ve already seen that they’re capable of doing it – they’re very poised and motivated.”