WILLIAMSTOWN, MA – For the first time since 2019, Williams softball will return for a full season. This year, the Ephs will attempt to win their first NESCAC championship since they won three straight in 2016, 2017, and 2018.
Kris Herman will be returning for her 19
th season as head coach, having compiled an impressive 440-226-2 (.660) record since beginning at Williams in the 2004 season. Assistant coach
Mackenzie Keyes will also return, in her 5
th season on the Ephs' coaching staff.
In an abridged 2021 season, the Ephs surged out to a 12-0 record before dropping both games of a doubleheader against Tufts to finish the season at 12-2. The Ephs scored at least 10 runs four times, including three straight times against Hamilton to start the season, and held their opponent to one run or fewer seven times, including four shutouts.
Star two-way player
Kirstin Mapes, who pitched to a 7-1 record, a 2.98 ERA, and 1.30 WHIP while also hitting .417 and slugging .667, graduated after the 2021 season. So did outfielder
Gabi Cirigliano, who led the team with five home runs and 16 RBIs. However, the Ephs will still return 10 players, many of whom played prominent roles on the 2021 team.
Last year, catcher/infielder Kelly McGuigan '24 led the team with a remarkable .806 slugging percentage and 1.282 OPS, with 29 total bases in just 36 at-bats. Other returners for the Ephs include utility player
Mara Kipnis '22, who recorded a 1.084 OPS with six extra-base hits in 10 games, outfielder
Alyana Granados '23, who hit .351 and led the team with four stolen bases, and pitcher
Madison Mok, who went 2-0 with a 3.06 ERA in 16 innings, with an impressive .219 batting average against.
The Ephs return four seniors – Kipnis, pitcher
Maya Hartman '22, and utility players
Rachel Neugart '22 and
Azaria Vargas '22 – this season. "They're the only ones who have played a full season before," remarked Herman when asked about what the seniors mean to the team. "Their experience and leadership is going to be really valuable."
Though this year's team features 18 players, including seven first-years, Herman emphasized the team's depth, commenting that "everyone will get a chance" to earn playing time as the season goes on.
The Ephs will start their season on March 20
th against the College of Wooster, the first of a twelve-game stretch in Florida, before coming back to the Northeast to play an away doubleheader at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on March 30
th. Williams will then start the NESCAC portion of their schedule with a three-game series at Middlebury on April 8
th and April 9
th (doubleheader).
