Feb. 18, 2005

When constructing a building, a foundation has to be laid to give support to the structure. Same is true in athletics; as a team needs to have a solid foundation to help with its success. George Mason University's softball team is rebuilding its foundation as the Patriots added a new head coach in 2005, along with several new athletes.

"I am thrilled about taking over Mason's softball program," said head coach Joe Verbanic. "This is a huge opportunity to move into a head coaching role and I will do my best to build a successful program at the Division I level."

Mason has two starters back from the 2004 squad and 13 new faces have joined this year's team.

Senior Stacy James is one of Mason's returners who was a 2004 All-Colonial Athletic Association Second Team selection. James started every game at shortstop last season and garnered a team third-best batting average of .346. James connected on 12 triples, a Patriot single-season record, and was also first in the league at the close of the regular season. James finished her junior year ranked second in the nation in triples per game with an average of 0.2. The Leesburg, Va. native ended the year leading the conference in RBI and total bases with 41 and 105, respectively.

"Stacy is going to be a real key ingredient to everything that we do this year," stated Verbanic. "We are going to need her to provide the leadership and the glue that holds everything together when pressure-filled situations arise.

"With Stacy sitting in the middle of the line-up, if we give her the opportunity to be productive, she will do tremendous things on the field for us this year."

The other returner is sophomore Megan Farrell, who pitched 23 games for the Patriots last year. Farrell closed out the 2004 campaign with an overall record of 12-11 and the number of wins was tied for fourth best in the CAA. Farrell also closed out the regular season with 116 assists, which ranked sixth in the conference.

"I know that Megan had a good freshman year, which is evident from the season's finals statistics," expressed Verbanic. "I have seen progress in the fall from Megan, and am looking forward to seeing her play this spring."

The newcomers include 11 freshmen, as well as two juniors. Included in this mix are two pitchers, four outfielders, four infielders and three utility players.

"The freshmen, as well as the other newcomers, have not been exposed to any other situation or coaching at this level," commented Verbanic. "So they are going to come to Mason and develop with me.

"There is a certain amount of growing pains with having a big freshmen class. In our situation, I think the good outweighs the bad. These young athletes are going to get a great deal of experience and opportunity in their first year with us here at Mason."

As Verbanic and the Patriots gear up for the start of the 2005 season, goals are looked upon for what they want to accomplish now that the foundation for the team is set.

"Being so new in this situation and not being familiar with the competition that we will face, it is difficult to know what to expect," stated Verbanic. "I know where the bar is set in the CAA and how much work we have to do to achieve that level. I think that it should be realistic in a conference with seven teams to finish in the top-half. At some point that will become a base level goal and, in some ways, I would like for that to be a base level goal right now.

"If we can be competitive on a daily basis against our opponents, you cannot really ask for much more than that at any level. If you take that and go back to doing the basics well, the wins are going to take care of themselves and we could end up in the top-half."

Another area where Verbanic has set goals for the team is in academics because he knows that the majority of athletes who play softball will not play past the collegiate level.

"Academics is more important than the athletic side and the reality of the situation is that softball should be secondary to the academics," expressed Verbanic. "Some of the goals and philosophies of this softball program is to bring excellence to the softball field, in the classroom and with their whole collegiate experience. My goal is to have us average a 3.0 GPA every semester because I want us to represent the university academically at a high level, as well as a high standard."

Each person in the head coaching role has a philosophy on how he/she likes to coach and Verbanic is no different.

"You desire to have a team that is athletic," said Verbanic. "I would like to have good students, athletes, softball players and pitching. "It all starts in the circle," said Verbanic. "If you have a dominant pitcher you are going to be better off and the team will be better right away. Then you want to recruit strong athletes that will surround her on the field."

Mason returns one pitcher and has two more athletes that will see time on the mound for the Patriots this season in Amber Straube and Arielle Weinkofsky.

"I am very excited the progress that all of the pitchers have made in the fall season," expressed Verbanic. "All three have been receptive on things that we are working on and I am looking forward to get their repetitions and focus on what they do, so that the things we worked on in the fall can now become more of a natural part of their pitching."

Verbanic believes that softball is a simple game and if you can play catch better than other people, throw strikes and if solid contact is made at the plate, then doing all three things together will help build a successful team.

"If you can do those three things better than the people you are playing against then you have a good chance to win," stated Verbanic. "We are going to focus on doing those things well and if we do, then everything else will fall into place."

With a new coach, the strengths and weaknesses of Mason's team are hard to point out since he has yet to see his team compete.

"If I had to choose a strength it may be our freshman class," expressed Verbanic. "I think they are a good core of athletes and am pleased to have them here to help rebuild Mason's program.

"Also having a strong and talented player in Stacy James is a huge strength. Stacy has a very strong work ethic and every coach would love to have a dozen Stacy's."

Mason starts its 2005 campaign in the middle of February and will play in two tournaments on the road. The Patriots then kick-off their home schedule on March 5-6 when they host their own Patriot Classic. This year the "Classic" will feature Albany, Cornell and Syracuse. Mason then heads to Osceola, Fla. to compete in 10 games at the Rebel Spring Games for the Patriots last contests on the road in the month of March.

"I hope that one of the things we do away from Fairfax is learn to be a good road team," stated Verbanic. "I am hoping that the early part of the year will give us the ability to develop mental toughness to adjust to whatever gets thrown at us on a road trip since it is difficult to win away from your home turf. The road is a very critical place to learn to manage everything you do to still be able to be successful on the field."

Mason kicks-off CAA play at home on March 25 against Delaware, which will be the second meeting for these two teams in 2005. In addition to Delaware, the only other conference schools Mason will compete against at home are Hofstra and James Madison.

"As another part of the philosophy in the early stages of building a program, the mindset is that you take care of business at home and split on the road."

The foundation is laid for Mason's softball program, only time will tell what is built from it.