In its season-opening doubleheader on March 14, Rosemont, a 400-student, all-women, liberal-arts Catholic college in the Main Line suburb of the same name, went down by 20-0, then 15-0.

The following day, at Neumann College, those same Rosemont Ramblers went down twice more in another doubleheader, by 33-0 and 19-0. In their next outing, 13 days later at Misericordia University, same story, same scores: 33-0 and 19-0.

The ugly truth is, the Ramblers were 0-25 this year and 0-20 in the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference, finishing dead last. And as lopsided as most games were, the defeats could have been worse. Thanks to the so-called mercy rule, none of the Ramblers' games were allowed to go past the fifth inning.

"We got mercy-ruled in every game," said Joe Long, the head coach.

After the indignity of beatings like that, it's enough to make you wonder why Long and his 10-player team look back on the just-ended season as one of the best experiences of their lives.

"Quit? No, I never felt like quitting at all," said Tammy Do, 21, a junior from Philadelphia who was 0-11 as one of two pitchers on the squad. "I couldn't be more proud."

Karen Boyle, 19, a freshman infielder from Swarthmore, feels the same way. "It's hard to explain," Boyle said. "It has definitely made me stronger, and it helped make me realize that winning isn't everything."

None of the players, however, is more proud of the team than Long, in his third year as head coach.

"This was by far the best group of girls I've ever coached," Long said. "They stuck up for each other, and they never once got down on each other. I have never had a team bond like this. These kids have character."

Suspend the program?

"They didn't want to be embarrassed," Long said.

If Long couldn't come up with six players to fill out the team, Rosemont athletic officials said, they would be forced to suspend the softball program, certainly for the year and maybe longer.

"At that point, I was sitting in the broom closet of an office I share with another coach when Tammy and Jess came in," Long recalled.

Tammy and Jess are the captains: Tammy Do and Jess Muff, a junior from Upper Darby.

After hearing the hard, cold facts from their coach, Do and Muff took it upon themselves to come up with the six players. The dean of students, Marilyn Moller, sent out a college-wide e-mail seeking softball recruits. But Long said it was Do and Muff who did the work. "They went out and knocked on doors," he said.

Before long, they had filled out the team, albeit in several cases with students who hadn't played softball in years - or ever. This is Division III. There were no athletic scholarships to offer, but they could appeal to the women's team and school spirit.

How bad was the team?

"The Bad News Bears would have been a step up," Long said with a laugh.

"I had to start with the basics: This is a ball. This is a glove. This is a bat," the coach added. "That first practice, I used rag balls and Wiffle balls and we still had girls jumping out of the way when I threw them a ball."

Among his coaching peers, when Long told them the situation, they shook their heads and offered condolences. Early on, Long even questioned whether it was a mistake to field a team with players that clearly couldn't compete.

"But once the season started and I saw how hard they were working, I changed my mind," he said. "They all smiled. They backed each other up. They joked, and they took it for what it was."

Long quickly gave up hope of winning any games, but recognized a valuable coaching and learning opportunity. In addition to teaching the basics, he began to set goals for the team and for each individual player: to stop swinging at high balls, to get a hit, to move a runner ahead, to catch a fly ball.

Little victories

Long still chuckles at the recollection of Alexandra Benfold's big catch in the outfield against Cedar Crest College in Allentown. Benfold, a sophomore from Cherry Hill, was one of the newbie recruits, a softball novice at the start of the season.

By midseason, she was holding down left field against Cedar Crest on a day it had rained long and hard. "The outfield was like a swimming pool," said Boyle, the infielder.

Suddenly, there was a crack of the bat, and all eyes followed a fly ball toward left field. Benfold went after it.

"Alex caught that ball, and she had to run it down," Long said, practically crowing. "The girls were talking about that catch for the rest of the season. It didn't matter that we lost the game."

Then there was the game in which Abigail Schwartz, a junior from Haddonfield, came to the plate with, amazingly enough, two Ramblers in scoring position.

Until this season, Schwartz had never played softball and never batted, so her individual goal at the plate tended to be to simply make contact, maybe even put the ball in play. That day, that at-bat, with runners in scoring position, Schwartz proved to be an easy out. But she did hit the ball.

Rather than be bummed out that the rally was killed, Boyle turned to the coach and said, "Hey, she got it in play."

"That's right. She did, and that was her goal," Long said in reply. "I'll take that."

All defeats did not go down easy, not for the players and not for the coach. Rides home in the team van could be glum until somebody finally broke the ice and the players started talking about school or sports or guys.

The Ramblers could also always count on the support of Long. "No coach likes to lose," Boyle said. "He would always say, 'I hate to lose, but I love you guys. You make the whole experience worth it.' "

At times, Long's patience with other coaches was tested. Some opposing coaches would get eight or 10 runs, then "call off the dogs," Long said. Others would run up the score.

"Mostly it was women coaches," Long said with a sort of believe-it-or-not tone in his voice. "It's about egos getting in the way. It's also about padding the stats. They want all their players to make all-conference."

As bad as the season was, the Ramblers cannot wait for next year to roll around. Long expects to have seven players back, among them Do and Boyle.

"I'll definitely play next year," said Boyle, who also juggles volleyball in the fall and basketball in the winter at Rosemont.

Call him crazy, but the coach is pumped, too.

"This season was a positive for these girls and an experience they will have for the rest of their lives," Long said.

Long is already thinking of team goals for next year, too.

"I know what we're up against," he said. "The goal for next year is to get past five innings."

at 215-854-5604 or jlogan@phillynews.com. Read his recent work at http://go.philly.com/joelogan.