Posted By Lynn Worthy, Sun Staff
The New England Riptide roster is still a little fluid, but they will likely have all their players together for the remainder of the season.
The Riptide were without slugger Tarrah Beyster and pitcher Erica Beach on Friday night.
Beyster, who is an assistant softball coach at Indiana University, and Beach, an assistant coach with the Ohio State Buckeyes, were both hitting the recruiting trail while New England hosted the Chicago Bandits in the second game of a four-game set.
Rookie outfielder Alex Sutton stepped into the starting lineup on Friday night. Sutton blasted her first home run last week against Venezuela. She is currently hitting .292.
Friday night also marked the return of third baseman Jackie Pasquerella. She is a teacher during the off-season. The New York native did play in games earlier in the season, but had to return to the Big Apple to fulfill her job commitments.
Bandits digging a whole
While the Chicago Bandits have had the best regular season record in each of the last two seasons, they find themselves in the NPF cellar entering today’s game with a record of 7-12 (.368 winning percentage).
The Bandits have been short-handed for a lot of the early stages due to college players arriving late as well as Vick Galindo and Jennie Finch leaving for Team USA.
They’ll be in and out as the U.S. National Team schedule dictates.
“It‘s difficult to say bye to a Jennie Finch or a Vicky Galindo,” said Bandits head coach Mickey Dean. “Not knowing you’re going to have them for a month, month and a half, but you wish them well. You hope they do great things, and I know they will.”
They don’t make the schedule
After the conclusion of this week’s series, the Riptide welcome in Philadelphia (5-6, .455) for four games before going to Philly for another four. The Force currently sit ahead of Chicago and behind the Riptide (9-6, .600) in the standings.
Back-to-back-to-back series against the current bottom feeders of the league could provide New England the opportunity to gain ground in the standings.
Among the leaders
Riptide players are among the top five in batting average, RBI, stolen bases, wins, and strikeouts.
Shanel Scott is third in batting average (.385), and leads the NPF in stolen bases (13). Lyndsey Angus is second in RBI (16), Erica Beach’s four wins tie her for fourth, and Eileen Canney’s 42 strikeouts rank fourth among pitchers. Canney has pitched just 25 1/3 innings.