Like many upstart programs, the GW softball team was not very successful in its inaugural season last year. Playing with varsity status for the first time, the Colonials were shut out 19 times and compiled a 3-36 record without picking up a single Atlantic 10 victory.

However, season two has brought new head coach Shaunt Fremin from Louisiana State University and an assemblage of young players to help the small core of already established talent.

The only returning starter is sophomore shortstop Elana Meyers, who served as captain last year and did everything for the Colonials, leading the team in almost every offensive category and pitching in 27 of 39 games. Meyers said her goals this season do not focus on individual accolades.

“My expectations are all about the team,” she said. “I expect to go to the A-10 Tournament, I expect to win the A-10 Tournament and I expect to go to the NCAA regional. We know we can do it.”

Meyers will not be asked to do it alone this year, as freshman Gabby Culp will take over the primary pitching duties. Fremin said Culp can throw between 63 and 66 miles per hour and will also provide some offensive punch; she hit two home runs in three fall-season games. But, as a freshman, Culp said she does not feel pressure to succeed.

“I think any of the pressure that I have, I put on myself because I want to be the best,” Culp said. “The coaches and team believe in me, so it’s not that bad. We all have faith in each other.”

Fellow freshmen Jen Hrycyna and Melanie Lewis will fill out the pitching rotation for the Colonials, while on the offensive side yet another freshman will be looked on to contribute. The speedy Ashley Horner will lead off the batting order and play left field for the Colonials. She stole home to force extra innings against Lehigh Saturday, when the Colonials (0-2) lost both games of a home doubleheader, 8-0 and 11-3.

“(Horner) has improved so much,” Fremin said. “It’s become routine for her to make diving catches, and she has become the leader of our outfield.”

Fremin, an LSU graduate and former assistant at the University of Georgia, has the tough task of working with 11 new players, 10 of whom are freshmen. But the head coach brings an impressive resume, as she helped the Bulldogs get to the 2003 Southeastern Conference Championship last year. With Fremin as hitting coach, Georgia batted .311, the eighth highest mark in Division I softball.

The 2000 LSU graduate was a four-year starter and captain of the softball team in her time as a Tiger. As a member of the university’s inaugural varsity squad in 1997, Fremin knows what it’s like to be an upstart.

“It will be to my advantage that I was a freshman on the first LSU team in 1997 and had the opportunity to see it grow from nothing to a World Series contender in a five-year span,” she told The Hatchet last August after being hired. “Our softball program is in an exciting place right now. We are definitely the underdog in the conference, and that’s a great place to be. I feel that many opponents will underestimate us.”