Posted By Lynn Worthy, Sun Staff

The New England Riptide had won eight of their last nine games before last night’s loss to the Philadelphia Force.

At this time last year, New England was in the middle of a hot streak in which they won 10 of 11 games, but that fire was doused with ice water as the Riptide went 2-6 to finish the last eight games of the regular season.

Of course, they went on to win the NPF Championship despite being the fourth seed in the four-team playoffs.

“I think the difference is that last year we got on a roll and we were really really hot and gained a ton of momentum in July because we kept coming back from behind,” Riptide head coach Sharon Drysdale said. “It drained us, but it gave everybody a lot of confidence and everybody really worked as a team to generate those runs.”

Drysdale also pointed out that the stretch of winning took a lot out of the team last year as they played the final weeks of the regular season with a playoff spot virtually locked up. The big thing in the final weeks, according to Drysdale, was getting rested and being mentally prepared for the playoffs.

“This year has been much difference because we’re defending and it’s been much tougher from the get-go, and everything has been hard and every game is hard,” Drysdale said. “It doesn’t matter who we’re playing. Whether it’s Michigan, Venezuela, these guys (Philadelphia), or Washington, the names of the opponent doesn’t matter. Every game has been hard, and that takes a lot out of you.”

The question: Is it better to end the season on a winning note, or can a team afford to do what the Riptide did last year and bank on the confidence they built throughout the year despite mounting losses down the stretch?

Drysdale’s answer: Both.

“I think the fundamentals are important at this point, and we need to sure up some things because we can‘t afford to have breakdowns in fundamental execution and that’s what we had (Wednesday night),” Drysdale said. “So, we need to address that, and if we do, the winning will take care of itself.”

Let the scoreboard watching begin
New England came into this week’s series with a record of 20-12 one game behind the Rockford Thunder (21-11) for third place in National Pro Fast pitch (NPF).

This week’s opponent, the Philadelphia Force, trail the Riptide in the standings and came in tied with Chicago for the worst mark in the league with a record of 13-15.

The Force and the Riptide split the previous eight games with New England winning 3 of 4 at Martin Field and Philadelphia taking 3 of 4 down at ECTB Stadium at Bicentennial Park.

Following this week's series with Philadelphia, the Riptide have a week with no games before hosting Akron in a four-game set. Then they'll tangle with the Force again in the regular season’s final series in Philadelphia on August 16-19.

Diversified attack
The Riptide have benefited from increases in speed and depth above all else this season.

New England had 27 stolen bases as a team last season. This year, rookie outfielder Shanel Scott already has 25 by herself, while Carri Leto Martin has nine and Lisa Modglin has swiped seven.

This season the pitching staff has been healthy and has been much more of a “staff” compared to last season when Jocelyn Forest got 15 of 24 Riptide wins. Eileen Canney (seven wins), Danielle Henderson (six wins) and Erica Beach (five wins) have all picked up the slack this season for Forest who is 2-4 so far this season.

Still, defense has not fell by the wayside.

The Riptide, who had the fewest number of errors in National Pro Fast pitch (NPF) last year, come into Thursday’s game having committed 23 errors. That is currently tied with Washington and Akron for the best in the league. While Akron has played just 25 games, Washington has played as many games (33) as the Riptide.