By all accounts, she's a softball player at heart

Kneeland a big part of Bentley comeback

Winthrop High graduate Briana Kneeland is on a tear at Bentley. (SPORTS PIX)

Briana Kneeland was just about sure she had hung up her cleats for good when she left Winthrop High.

The anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction had pretty much taken her off the field. She missed her senior soccer and softball seasons.

When she got to Bentley College in Waltham, her mind was made up: She was going to grow up to be a nice, well-paid accountant.

Then the itch came. She wanted to see if her knee was good enough to play again.

"I needed the team bonding back in my life," she said.

She held out her freshman year, but after hearing a rumor that Bentley's struggling softball team was looking for an outfielder, she tried out as a sophomore.

She hadn't seen a pitch in two years, but she figured if she could get the hang of it again, she could help turn Bentley's program around.

Turns out, two years later, that's one of the best decisions she could have made.

Kneeland hit .265 her sophomore season when the Falcons went 6-37, and .252 as a junior when they had only two wins. But to open the last season of her college career, she went on a tear as the Falcons played eight games in Florida, hitting .346 with 9 hits, 6 RBIs, and 3 runs scored.

Bentley came back from the trip 4-4, squeaking out wins by one and two runs, but winning nonetheless.

It's the team's best start in nine years. Less than a month into the 2008 season, the Falcons have twice as many wins as they had last year.

"Our first goal was to come home from Florida .500," Kneeland said. "We're trying to make it to the [Northeast-10] playoffs at the end of the season. We just want to be able to compete with the other teams and show them that we can compete, too."

Kneeland has gone from a walk-on to team cocaptain with pitcher Diane Morrison and first baseman Leigh Cavanaugh, both seniors.

"We're starting to take on the role of being there and leading the team and hoping to . . . do something for Bentley and help turn this softball program around."

Kneeland joined the team around the same time as third-year head coach Michele DeGregorio, a Lynn native and Winthrop transplant who came to Bentley from Merrimack College, where she won a Division 2 national title in 1994.

"She's been great for our team," Kneeland said. "She's helped us turn it around. She's been very dedicated and devoted to helping us. She's gone out and recruited like crazy and brought in some great freshmen, which helps."

For now, the team is taking it one game at a time, and its big goal - not having another two-win season - is out of the way. And for Kneeland, the whole accountant thing is out the window. She's a marketing major now, thinking about going into sports management.

"Last year was horrible, but we really think this year is going to be different," Kneeland said. "I think it's a great feeling to know that we're able to compete and we're able to put runs on the board and we're able to score and get our pitchers some help. As long as we keep our bats going and keep supporting our pitchers, we'll be fine. We were hoping to have a much better season, and we already have."