It’s the top of the seventh inning with a runner on second base. Marist softball third baseman Alyssa Grupp is at the plate with an important opportunity to knock in an insurance run in the 2023 MAAC Championship.
She swings and hits a lazy pop up between the shortstop and left fielder. They collide into each other allowing the ball to drop. Grupp reaches second base safely while Marist’s shortstop, Haley Ahr, scores on the error and takes a more comfortable 5-2 lead with the season on the line.
When the final out was made in the bottom of the seventh, Grupp ecstatically cheered and jumped up and down with the rest of her teammates as they became the 2023 MAAC Softball Champions, Marist’s first since 2016.
A year and a half later, Grupp finds herself aligned with the softball team, but in a new role.
Grupp recently finished her undergraduate degree in the spring of 2024 and decided to get her master’s in Marketing Communication. It’s more common for college athletes to play a fifth year, but unfortunately for Grupp, she did not have a fifth year of eligibility.
Marist’s softball and baseball teams did not receive the 2020-21 COVID-19 year of eligibility because they met the minimum number of games required to count as a season.
“We played a bunch of games and I was not all there because COVID was really tough,” said Grupp. “We played enough games to where I did not get a fifth year, which was really hard because it felt like I didn’t get the real experience my freshman year.”
If playing a fifth year was an option, it “100%” would have been Grupp’s choice.
“I kind of meddled around wanting to get my masters,” said Grupp. “I originally spoke to Nick (Skidmore) because I was really big into the media team and doing production. And then I randomly brought it up to Joe (Ausanio) and he goes ‘Why don’t you coach?’”
Marist softball head coach Joe Ausanio believed that Grupp’s personality, energy, IQ, and genuine love for the game as a player would translate to her being able to coach.
“I thought Alyssa always brought a very positive energy to the team,” said Ausanio. “When she graduated last year and we didn’t win, and on paper we probably had the best team in the conference, I just felt there was unfinished business. I think the fact that all of her teammates loved her, that a transition into coaching would be a really good fit for her.”
Grupp weighed the pros and cons; she wanted to be around the game and people that she loves, and with a school-paid degree, it was a no-brainer decision.
Her teammates never expected her to return to the team on the coaching staff because of the distance from her hometown of Jacksonville, Florida.
“I was not expecting it,” said Marist outfielder Peyton Pusey. “When I found out she was going to be a GA (Graduate Assistant), I lost my mind. She lives so far away, I thought for sure she’d go home.”
The most challenging adjustment for Grupp and the players on the team is that they are still best friends. In this new role, Grupp temporarily has an altered relationship with the players as their coach.
“The team is virtually the same,” said Grupp. “I’m playing with some of my best friends and people who would eventually be in my wedding… so to create that barrier and line of it’s all respect and I have to coach them now has been tough on both sides.”
Marist third baseman Miah McDonald is one former teammate of Grupp who shares a close bond. McDonald is doing a graduate program like Grupp, but a torn labrum left her sidelined for the entire 2023 season, allowing her to play for a fifth year. Grupp and McDonald have been teammates since they were freshmen and lived together all four years of their undergraduate careers.
McDonald is used to the transition for Grupp because of her close relationship with player-turned-assistant coach Caroline Baratta. Having Grupp return as a coach, who has played with everyone on the team besides the current freshman, comes with benefits.
“I think having her in that position where she knows everybody’s strength and what they can work on is very important and a vital aspect for us going into this year,” said McDonald.
“I think with our team it’s sometimes hard to receive criticism when we feel like someone hasn’t been in my shoes,” said Pusey. “Grupp is in a different position because she was literally in our shoes. To receive criticism from her, it’s a little bit easier to take because she felt the way I was feeling nine months ago and is able to resonate with our issues more personally.”
Grupp’s experience with her teammates is helpful but she also brought an advantage from digital media. During her senior year, she had a video production internship with Marist College ESPN+ and Red Fox Network production.
Every Wednesday during the fall semester, the hitters have live at-bats against the pitchers. Originally, each player received a stat sheet at the end of the semester with detailed statistical information on their performance. The problem is that the hitters wouldn’t know how many quality at-bats they had.
This fall, Grupp started filming both hitters and pitchers during their live practices. She has a Google Drive of every at-bat or pitching appearance and separates each one into a folder, which is available for every player to view.
“Playing for four years, it was tough because they would throw numbers at us for how we did in the fall season but I could never put the video to the numbers,” said Grupp. “…I really wanted to implement something along the lines of the film so the girls see, ‘That’s where that pitch was, I did this, so let me fix this next time.’”
“This is the first time we’ve done it in the five years I’ve been here,” said McDonald. “We have the best pitchers in the conference, so I think if we can understand how to fix our swings off them, we will be good to go for the start of the season.”
Grupp has already brought major contributions to the program, but her day-to-day goal is to allow her team to improve.
Marist softball is the most recent champion on campus and Grupp hopes to gain that recognition ahead of the 2025 season through social media.
Grupp has been involved with Marist since the fall of her junior year of high school when she committed to the Red Foxes. She spent all four years of her undergrad playing primarily at second base but also played wherever it was needed. Grupp had a career batting average of .335, a .404 on-base percentage, .410 slugging percentage, 80 runs scored, 164 hits and one home run.
Following her MAAC championship run, Grupp’s senior year was the best of her career. With a career-best .377 batting average, .458 on-base percentage, .455 slugging percentage, 58 hits, 26 doubles, two triples and 19 walks. Her success was reflected along with the rest of the team. Marist finished with the best record in both non-conference and conference play in the MAAC and finished first in every offensive category besides hit by pitches and bunts.
It felt as if Marist would repeat as MAAC Champions for the 2024 season, but they ended up losing both of their games to No. 4 Canisius (5-1) and No. 2 Niagara (10-4), which knocked them out of the MAAC Tournament.
What could have been a fairytale ending for Grupp’s playing career, ended heartbreakingly.
While the 2024 season was disappointing, the Red Foxes have retained enough players to have another run at the MAAC Championship. Grupp has already done her part in her new role, but the anger of losing last season is why she wants to finish the job as a coach.
Edited by Dan Aulbach
Graphic by Quinn DiFiore
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