Newburyport News: Salisbury’s Mroz extends collegiate career through softball
by Chris O'Donnell

(May 1, 2007) — It was late in the summer of 2005, and Salisbury’s Josselyn Mroz had one semester to go before she completed her degree at UMass Lowell. She’d completed a college field hockey career most players could only dream about: four trips to the NCAA Tournament semifinal, All-American status, a national championship.

Time to relax, complete the final credit hours, get her degree and get out of dodge, right?

Not so for Mroz, who instead thought, ‘Why not play softball my last year?’

“I just figured, ‘What else am I going to do with my time?’” Mroz said. “My dad always wanted me to play. To this day, he’ll say that softball was my better sport, so this was also something for my parents. I’m having fun. I’m enjoying it.”

Mroz was a Cape Ann League all-star in field hockey and was named to the Mass. Best of 60 team.

She could also swing a bat, and by the time her three-year softball career was finished, she had helped the Indians to a state title as a sophomore and earned CAL All-Star honors her junior and senior years.

Though she probably won’t make any all-star teams, Mroz has been invaluable for the River Hawks, starting 43 of 44 games at first base. She is batting .228, though maintains an on-base percentage of .343 — the beneficiary of 13 walks.

“I’m not hitting as well as I’d like, but I haven’t seen this kind of pitching for four years,” Mroz explained. “I just saw this as an opportunity to help the team and that it would be fun to do my last semester.”

Whatever her numbers may be, Mroz is an all-star in the eyes of Harry Sauter, in his 13th year as head coach at UML.

“I couldn’t be happier with her. We wish we had her for another year,” Sauter noted. “When you show her something, she takes your suggestions to heart. She works as hard as anyone on this team.

“I think she has been a role model for the younger players,” Sauter added. “She won a starting spot on this team because of her hard work.”

‘Happy playing field hockey’

Because of NCAA rules allowing teams to briefly compete outside of their traditional seasons, two-sport athletes in college are nearly extinct. Nevertheless, Mroz had considered playing both field hockey and softball at UMass Lowell prior to her freshman year.
She had consulted UML field hockey coach Shannon (LeBlanc) Hlebichuk, also a former AHS field hockey/softball star, about the idea. Softball teams are allowed to play an abbreviated fall schedule, which Sauter uses as the acclimation period for his first-year players. Though brief, it is an important period of the year.

Because of field hockey, Mroz would have to forego fall softball, likely delaying her progression into the regular season. All parties agreed it would be difficult to handle.

“I actually tried calling (Sauter), but I knew I would miss the fall season,” Mroz explained. “I never really pursued it because I was happy playing field hockey. It would’ve been tough being an athlete year-round.”

Mroz’s field hockey career at UML has been well documented. An All-American defender her senior year, she helped the River Hawks to four Northeast-10 Conference Tournament championships, four appearances in the semifinal and, of course, the 2005 NCAA title in a 2-1 overtime thriller over Bloomsburg.

Getting thrown into the mix

Realizing he was a player or two short entering the 2007 season, Sauter contacted Hlebichuk, who had talked to Mroz about playing.

“Shannon had mentioned Josselyn, so we talked to her,” Sauter recalled. “She was really excited about it. And I think she missed playing.”

Having not swung bat in four years, Mroz got to work in the late fall, spending individual sessions with River Hawk assistant coach Kristine Botto, an All-American at UML who currently plays professionally with the New England Riptide.

“They really threw me back into it,” Mroz said. “If they approached it any slower, I don’t think I would have had this kind of impact. I would say I started getting confident about a month into the preseason.”

There were other things that needed adapting, such as letting her new teammates know that she meant business.

“I think the most difficult part is that I’m the oldest person on the team, but I’m more or less a freshman,” Mroz said. “You come on to a team and you want to earn the seniors trust. I wanted them to know that I’m here for the right reasons. That was a big thing I wanted them to realize.”

Preparing for the end

With a record of 24-20 (19-9 in the Northeast-10), UMass Lowell has clinched a place in the six-team NE-10 Tournament but are on the outside looking in as far as the NCAA Tournament goes. A good showing in the NE-10 Tournament is crucial.

On Saturday, the River Hawks inched closer with a pair of 3-2 victories at Saint Rose. That’s in large part to Mroz, whose solo home run in the second inning — her first of the year — proved to be the game-winner in the opener.

“Our plan is to make the NCAA regional,” Mroz said. “Hopefully we can keep playing like we’ve been playing. We have high hopes. We’re a much better team than our first day out.”

Even after being absent for four years, the same can be said for Mroz.