Ana Leon '16

Athlete of the Week: Emily Griffin '17

Softball

First year Emily Griffin has established herself as a capable member of the Bowdoin softball team. Griffin has started on the mound seven times this season, tied for the team lead with senior Melissa DellaTorre. Last weekend, Griffin held Colby scoreless and limited reiging D-III national champion Tufts to almost two runs below its season average. Typically, first years do not contribute as much to the team, particularly not as pitchers.
“The last time it happened was with Melissa. It really is reminiscent of Melissa,” said captain Hannah Wurgaft ’14. “That being said, it’s not very often.”
Head Coach Ryan Sullivan said he agreed.
“You never like to think that a first year is going to come in and have that kind of an impact,” he said. “It would be almost unfair.”
“I had no idea what to expect,” Griffin said. “I don’t ever assume I’ll get much playing; I figured I’d have to do my time on the bench.”
The first-year pitcher has been part of a very balanced pitching rotation; the four pitchers—DellaTorre, Griffin, Julia Geaumont ’16, and Alana Luzzio ’17—have started seven, seven, six and four games, respectively. Each one offers a different style of pitching. Though Griffin has a vast repertoire of pitches, she can struggle—like many first years—with consistency.
“I came in with an inconsistent drop ball,” Griffin said. “I’ve been working on that in practice. My curveball was stronger. I think it’s actually reversed now.”
She leads the team in at-bats and hits while sporting a .379 batting average. When she is not pitching, Griffin starts in centerfield, and is therefore responsible for communicating with the right and left field.
“In the time that I’ve been here, she’s probably the most diverse player I’ve ever seen,” said Cielle Collins ’15. “And the really crazy thing about it is that she does each thing so well.”
Often at the top of the line-up, Griffin bats as a slap hitter, meaning that she bats left-handed and takes a running start at a bunt, hoping to beat the ball to first base. Her teammates note that although her incredible speed makes her ideal for the role, she is one of the few slap hitters strong enough to power the ball into the outfield. Wurgaft remembered an at-bat where Griffin recorded a triple by turning a potential bunt into a blast over the outfielder’s head. The threat of a long ball into the outfield makes Griffin particularly difficult to defend because defenses cannot slide to cover the bunt.
Griffin’s skill in all three facets of the game has demanded a rigorous practice schedule. She often pitches for 20 to 40 minutes then splits the remaining practice time between hitting and fielding. She has divided her time similarly for double-headers.
“I think it would be exhausting to do what she does each game,” Collins said. “She’ll pitch a game, get four at-bats, and then have to stay focused in center field.”
Before coming to Bowdoin, Griffin had played most of her career on the West Coast, often traveling to California with her team. The Arizona resident lived in Massachusetts until age nine and had always anticipated returning to the Northeast. Her childhood goal was to play for Dartmouth but she was swayed by her talks with Sullivan.
Griffin said that she started playing softball with her town’s youth team because her parents wanted her to make friends. Once she began playing more competitively, she was forced to give up horseback riding, which she had been doing competitively since she was five. She has since rekindled her love of riding, practicing with the equestrian team in the fall when it does not conflict with softball.
Sullivan recalls that he brought Griffin to Bowdoin even though the distance between Maine and Arizona prevented him from seeing her play in person. He described the difficult evaluating process that he and his pitching coach went through when studying footage of her. In the end, he concluded that between the tape, her reputation and her contributions to a high-level club team with a national championship to its name, he could “take a shot at it.”
So far, Griffin has not disappointed.
The sports editor of the Orient chooses the Athlete of the Week based on exemplary performance.

Athlete of the Week: Katie Doherty ’17

Last year, Katie Doherty ’17 made an immediate impact on the volleyball team as a first year. She had a statistically explosive first season, appearing in 29 of the team’s 30 matches and grabbing 163 kills and 277 digs, good enough for second on the team in both categories.
At the start of her sophomore campaign, Doherty, who hails from Menlo Park, Calif., has not shown signs of letting up.
A graduate of Menlo Atherton High School, Doherty had an impressive high school career, playing for the varsity team all four years and helping it reach the California state semi-finals. She also competed in soccer and pole-vaulting during high school.
At Bowdoin’s first tournament of the season, the Endicott Invitational, Doherty helped the team win four straight matchups by averaging 2.47 kills and 4.20 digs per set—surpassing her averages of 1.85 kills and 3.1 digs per set from last season.
“We were looking to go undefeated for the weekend,” said Doherty on the team’s attitude going into the tournament. “We have a bitter taste from last year and we really want to go farther this year.”
After a 20-5 showing in the regular season last year, Bowdoin lost in the NESCAC finals to Williams and failed to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.
Doherty was strong throughout the Polar Bears’ first two matches—three-set victories over the Plymouth State University Panthers and the Roger Williams Hawks—but really came through in a dramatic five-set victory over a well-regarded squad from New York University (NYU).
Though Bowdoin jumped out to a two set lead, NYU fought back, taking the third set and narrowly forced a fifth by winning the fouth set 29-27.
In the decisive fifth, Doherty and fellow sophomores Erica Sklaver and Clare Geyer led the team to a 15-12 victory.
“Everyone on the court really believed that we were going to win the whole time,” Doherty said. “We have a really positive attitude and a really positive team and we were really excited to just play.”
Doherty finished the match with 15 kills and a team-leading 29 digs, 11 more digs than teammate Christy Jewett ’16, who had Bowdoin’s second-highest total in the match.
Later in the day Doherty and the rest of the Polar Bears beat Endicott College. After narrowly dropping the first game 25-22 the Polar Bears comfortably won the next three 25-18, 25-12, and 25-17, respectively. Doherty’s 19 total digs was nearly double that of the next-closest Polar Bear.
Doherty officially plays outside hitter, a position usually played on the line nearest the net on the left side. Despite playing in a position that is close to the net, she has a high number of digs—the third most in the NESCAC. Only Katie Kershaw of Amherst and Anna Brown of Hamilton have more digs this season, and both play positions—defensive specialist and libero respectively—that offer them more oppurtunities for digs.
Part of the reason Doherty has such a high number of digs for her position is because Bowdoin has changed formations this year, as detailed in the Orient’s article this week about the start of the volleyball season. Even though players rotate through a variety of different positions on the team, Doherty seems to have a knack for consistently coming up with the ball and getting it back over the net.
Doherty was named to the Endicott Invitational All-Tournament Team and was honored as the NESCAC Women’s Volleyball Player of the Week.
After domination at the Endicott Invitational, Doherty Doherty helped the Polar Bears to a convinving win in their home opener against the University of New England on Tuesday. The reigning Player of the Week led the team with 15 digs while also racking up seven kills, good for the second most on the team.
Doherty said she was surprised by the recent slew of accolades.
“I was honestly really surprised,” she said. “I was expecting Christy [Jewett] or Erica [Sklaver] to get something like [the NESCAC Player of the Week award]. I wouldn’t really have expected myself to but it was nice to be recognized. It could have been any of my team members.”

Athlete of the Week

Ultimate Frisbee

Alex Vasile

Orient Staff

May 2, 2014

Playing Chaos Theory this year has been a disaster for most opposing teams. The women’s ultimate Frisbee team has earned its third consecutive bid to the D-III national championship, and will be the favorite to win for the second year in a row. What had been labeled a “rebuilding year” by some has become a shot at the national title in part because of Ana Leon ’16, appropriately nicknamed Calamity.

Friends on her high school basketball team convinced Leon, an Atlanta native, to try the game during her freshman year. She was already familiar with the sport, saying it is “something you played on the playground [in Atlanta] instead of football.” She stuck with the game, finding that a lot of the skills she developed through 11 years of basketball translated. By her senior year, her high school coach invited her to try out for the U-19 women’s team he would coach at the world championships in Ireland. She made the team as a defensive specialist, and it went on to finish second in the world.

At Bowdoin, Leon is able to offer advice to newer players—captain Clare Stansberry ’14 calls her a “baby captain”—because she knows the rules better than most other players. This is important in a game whose players are responsible for refereeing themselves. She also came to Bowdoin with a passion for the fundamentals of defense already ingrained. Mik Cooper ’14 noted that defense takes much longer for new players to learn than offense.

Leon was already familiar with Bowdoin and Chaos Theory when she began her college search. Her sister, Liz Leon ’12, captained the team during the first year it qualified for nationals. Leon acknowledges that meeting members of the team during a visit, compounded by her desire to go to college far from home, influenced her decision to come to Bowdoin.

Ultimate players generally play one of two loosely defined positions: handler and cutter. Handlers are responsible for most of the throwing while cutters attempt to free themselves from the defense and advance the disk. Leon, technically a cutter, excels at throwing the disk as well, providing her with the versatility to keep the offense flowing.

“Ana is usually a cutter, but she’s easily one of the best throwers on the team,” said Kate Powers ’17. “It’s not too common. It’s something that most people aspire to be. Few have as impressive handling skills.”

Powers also said that Leon is better at adjusting her throws under windy conditions than many other players.

Leon explained that her goal as a player is to become more versatile, and that she models her game after Phoebe Aron ’13, who, among other skills, was known for her ability to throw the disk far upfield.

Teams without cutters who can throw typically accompany long gains with underneath backwards passes to allow the handlers to regain control of the disk. Cutters such as Leon who can look upfield put increased pressure on defenses and allow their team to move the disk more quickly.

Leon’s teammates often describe her uncanny ability to get open regardless of the coverage.
“Honestly I don’t know how she does it,” said Hannah LeBlanc ’16. “It’s pretty incredible. If I knew how to do it, I would be doing it myself.”

“It’s a lot about setting up your cuts,” Leon said. “You’re trying to get your girl to move her hips so you can swivel around her.”

Leon employs a similar technique on defense, staying on her girl’s hip and denying her the disk.

She explains how ultimate teams play a lot of “man” defense, while individual defenders prioritize taking a side of the field away from their girl when she gets the frisbee. This makes the next throw more predictable for an anticipatory defense. “Man” defense aims to keep the disk away from the offensive player but also to prevent them from getting into open space on the uncovered side of the opposing handler.

“You can watch her play and see that it’s just so intuitive for her—where to move, where to be—in a way that it isn’t for everyone else on the field,” LeBlanc said. “People can watch our games, not know anything about them and say ‘I just know that Ana’s dominating out there.’”

The sports editor of the Orient chooses the Athlete of the Week based on exemplary performance.

Comments are permanently closed.