Courtesy of Yale Athletics

This weekend, Yale will continue its out of conference slate when it travels to Tucson, Arizona for the Bear Down Fiesta. The Bulldogs will be challenged by three top opponents before returning home to kick off their Ivy schedule next week against Harvard.

Last week, Yale (2–3, 0–0 Ivy) played in its first official softball contest since March 2020. The Elis produced mixed performances in their trip to Southern California, sweeping Saturday’s action against Stony Brook and San Diego State but dropping their other three games to Brigham Young, UC San Diego and Utah State.  

“I was proud of how we showed up each day, but our performance on Saturday against Stony Brook and San Diego State really showed us the potential we have as a team,” head coach Jen Goodwin said.

In Yale’s inaugural game of the season, not a single upperclassmen appeared in the starting lineup. In fact, only three are even on the roster: pitcher Nicole Conway ’23, pitcher Miranda Papes ’22 and captain infielder Kortney Ponce ’22, who has been dealing with injuries. The relative youth of the team contributed to Yale finishing fifth in the conference’s annual preseason poll. But the team has embraced the challenge.

“We have 14 student-athletes on a roster of 17 who have not competed in an Ivy League game,” Goodwin said. “Our youth is going to be a gift for us, and the most important piece to coaching young players is to make sure they keep competing and believing in themselves. Softball is a tough sport, so keeping things in perspective along the way and finding the positives in each day is crucial for us to be successful.”

With one weekend of college softball now under its belt, Yale’s young team will face another challenging slate. Friday’s action will begin against Marist (7–8, 0–0 MAAC). A few weeks ago, the Red Foxes split a two game series against Harvard (4–5, 0–0 Ivy). The Crimson were selected to finish third in the Ivy poll, but received the most first place votes of any team. Marist got off to a slow start this season, losing its first four games, but boasts a 7–4 record since then.

“The majority of the team is experiencing college softball for the first time too (due to COVID-19), so we have been going through the transition together,” pitcher Maddie Latta ’25 wrote in an email to the News. “The coaches and upperclassmen have also been big contributors in helping me acclimate and feel comfortable at the next level.”

The Bulldogs’ second opponent, Arizona (15–4, 0–0 PAC-12), is arguably the toughest game on their schedule all year. The Wildcats are ranked in most major polls, including as high as eighth in the USA Today coaches poll. Of Arizona’s four losses, three have come to ranked opponents, including No. 1 Oklahoma and No. 2 Alabama. Its only loss to an unranked opponent came on Feb. 24 when California State University, Fullerton topped them 1–0.

“That’s a huge name in softball,” Conway said about the Wildcats. “I think that especially these first [few] weeks, our goal is really to be as ready as possible for the Ivy League games.”

Yale’s weekend will round out with two games against UNLV (15–4, 0–0 MWC) and a re-match with Marist. The Rebels recently lost to No. 7 Washington a day after their eight game winning streak was snapped by Houston. 

The Bulldogs have two Arizona natives on the roster — Conway and outfielder Katie Donahey ’25. Both impressed in their high school career with the former holding Catalina Foothills High School’s all-time record in strikeouts (924), ERA (2.23) and wins (58). The latter was a two-time captain, two-time defensive MVP and a preseason All-Arizona team selection at Xavier College Prep. Both have contributed greatly in this young season — Donahey hit her first career home run last week while Conway pitched a complete game against San Diego State.

Live video will be available for all of Yale’s games this weekend and can be found on the team’s website.