The Justice

But Rashford's basketball teammates, though supportive, were disappointed about losing the centerfielder of their championship intramural softball squad, since varsity athletes aren't allowed to participate in their own varsity sport for intramurals.

"We're kind of bummed though, because our [intramural] softball team was the champion last year, and now we lost [Rashford]," forward and women's basketball co-captain Cassidy Dadaos '09 said. "She had a good arm, and I think she was a pretty good hitter."

Rashford hadn't played competitive softball since she was in eighth grade, but she dove right into the team's University Athletic Association schedule. Despite barely practicing with the team before the trip, she still made a contribution, playing in six of the team's eight conference games and scoring the squad's only run in her second game, an 11-1 loss to Emory University March 11.

"For kind of jumping right into it after basketball and only having one practice with us, she did really well," Korp said. "I know she hasn't played softball competitively in a few years, but she definitely picked it right back up."

Even when her inexperience seemed to show, Rashford, in fact, already knew what she was doing, as she displayed in a March 13 win over Case Western Reserve University. She immediately picked up Johnson's signal to leave first base just before a pitch was thrown, but the umpire called her out for taking an early lead.

"We had an umpire [that] I call 'Eagle Eye,' so he caught [Rashford], and he called her out," Johnson said. "We're looking to take any advantage we can, and we got caught, [but] she was doing exactly what she was told to do."

For now, Rashford's speed, which was pivotal to her success as a key reserve on the basketball team, will be her chief contribution to the softball squad. She stole her first base in last Thursday's 3-3 tie in the second game of a doubleheader against Wellesley College.

Continued...

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