Texas Tech University Athletics
Softball Opens Season This Weekend
February 01, 2001 | Softball
Feb. 1, 2001
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Upcoming for the Red Raiders ...
Tech opens the 2001 season with a doubleheader against New Mexico State at Noon and 2 p.m. at the Lubbock High School softball field on North University Ave.
The Aggies finished 27-31 under first-year head coach Le Ann Jarvis, 11-13 in the Big West Conference. NMSU will participate in the Sun Belt Conference during the 2001 season.
The Aggies return seven starters from last year's squad, including leading hitter Lizette Olivares, who batted .308 in 2000 with 60 hits in 58 contests. Olivares also had six doubles and 24 stolen bases with a .342 slugging percentage.
Mel Briggs and Chris Stephens also return for Jarvis. Briggs batted .287 with five home runs and 20 RBI and a .421 slugging percentage. Stephens had 16 extra-base hits last year, including eight doubles and seven home runs.
Leading pitcher Amber Mosher also returns for the Aggies after posting an 18-20 mark last season with a 2.48 ERA. She pitched 259.2 innings, striking out 99 against only 57 walks in 2000.
Reeves leads Tech into 2001 campaign
Bobby Reeves returns to Texas Tech, this time as the head coach, to lead the Red Raiders into the 2001 season.
Reeves served as an assistant at Tech from 1997-99, Tech's most successful seasons on the softball diamond. The Red Raiders compiled a 115-79-1 record during his three seasons as an assistant, including the only trip to the NCAA Tournament in the school's history.
The Shallowater, Texas, native served as then head coach at Southwest Texas State last season, compiling a 35-24 mark for the Bobcats, including two victories over ranked opponents and a pair of wins versus Texas. His .619 winning percentage was also a school record, and the squad earned a No. 3 ranking in the Midwest Region during the season.
Season-opener moved to Lubbock High
Due to the ongoing construction at Tech's new softball facility, the 2001 season-opener versus New Mexico State will be played at Lubbock High's softball complex.
The inclement winter weather and several other delays have caused the completion date of the project to be backed up, thus the Red Raiders will have to wait a little while longer before having a place to call home.
The Red Raiders open the season, Saturday, February 3, with a doubleheader against New Mexico State. Game times are set for Noon and 2 p.m.
The Aggies finished the 2000 season 27-31 overall, 11-13 in the Big West Conference. Coach Lea Ann Jarvis returns seven starters from last year's squad, as NMSU moves into the Sun Belt Conference this season.
The Red Raiders are 6-3 all-time versus New Mexico State. The two teams split a pair of games last season in the Red Raider Invitational, with Tech taking a 5-4 victory in 10 innings before falling to NMSU the following day, 5-2.
Tech took three of four games during the 1999 campaign in a home-and-home with the Aggies, sweeping a pair of games in Lubbock and splitting a pair of Las Cruces.
Returnees provide lots of experience
Reeves returns eight players from the 2000 squad who combined for 285 starts last year, including junior Eva Harshman, one of only two players who started every game in 2000.
Senior outfielder Sandy Butler has 179 starts in three seasons in the Red and Black, and looks to lead the Red Raiders in batting for a fourth straight season. Fellow senior Amanda Renfro has started 114 games during her three seasons on the mound with 59 victories.
Sophomore Amanda Douglas drew 36 starts last year, playing all three outfield positions in the process. Sophomore Tiffany Harrington also had 34 starting calls in 2000 in the outfield, and provides Reeves with depth and speed in the outfield.
Newcomers will determine success in 2001
With nine newcomers to the Tech program, all of the unfamiliar faces will very much determine the success of this year's team.
Many of the new faces will see significant playing time, and several will start for Reeves when the Red Raiders face off against New Mexico State in the season opener.
Junior college transfer Rachelle Biber and Notre Dame transfer Rebecca Eimen should provide Tech with an experienced middle infield combination, while Southwest Texas State transfer Carmen Grindell should see plenty of time at first base.
A host of freshmen should also see significant time this season, including Tracy Cartier, who will provide speed at the top of the lineup, and third baseman/outfielder Andrea Joachims should show plenty of pop in her bat throughout the season.
Sophomore Ashley Ready will provide depth behind the plate, as well, with Emily Bone, Staci Jackson and Britney Stolle giving Reeves versatility and depth late in contests.
All-America candidates
Seniors Amanda Renfro and Sandy Butler will lead the Red Raiders into the 2001 campaign as All-America candidates. The pair have been very influential in Red Raider softball over the last three years, including the school's only NCAA Tournament appearance after the 1999 season.
Renfro threw four no-hitters last season and set school-records for strikeouts in a game (15), strikeouts in a season (283), opposing batting average (.190), and saves in a season (3), and finished with a 1.35 ERA. The Houston, Texas, native owns almost every career mark at Tech, including a career 1.37 ERA and a .194 opposing batting average.
Butler heads into her final campaign with a career .330 batting average, including three team batting titles. She has 191 hits and 58 stolen bases to go along with a .387 on-base percentage.
2001 schedule will test Tech early, often
The Red Raiders will certainly play its share of games against top-notch opponents during the 2001 season, including nine teams ranked in the Top 25 in the season-opening NFCA poll.
Tech takes on No. 4 Washington, 20th-ranked Oregon and No. 25 Utah in the opening tournament of the season, the Fiesta Bowl Classic in Phoenix, Ariz., February 9-11. The Red Raiders also play second-ranked Oklahoma three times during this season, once in the OU adidas Classic on February 17, and then at home in conference play, April 13-14.
Other contests versus ranked opponents include a February 23 meeting against 19th-ranked Notre Dame in the Lady Razorback Invitational, and a contest versus 23rd-rated Mississippi State on March 9 at the Speedline Invitational.
Tech also plays two other teams receiving votes in the poll, conference foes Oklahoma State and Texas A&M.
Red Raiders picked sixth in Big 12
The Texas Tech softball squad was picked to finish tied for sixth in the Big 12 this season in the 2001 Preseason Big 12 Coaches' Softball Poll announced Wednesday.
The Red Raiders and first-year head coach Bobby Reeves return five starters and eight letterwinners off last year's 19-36 squad, including All-Big 12 selections Sandy Butler, Shauna Briggs and Amanda Renfro. Butler, Briggs and Renfro are the only seniors on the 2001 edition of Red Raider softball, as nine newcomers round out Reeves' first team at Tech.
Outfielder Butler batted .389 last season in conference play, and led the squad in batting for the third straight year. Catcher Briggs followed Butler with a .333 average in Big 12 action, finishing the year with four home runs and 18 RBI. Renfro struck out a school-record 283 batters in 269 innings in 2000, tossing four no-hitters and a perfect game along the way.
The defending national champion Oklahoma Sooners were unanimously voted No. 1, coming off a 66-8 record in 2000 with a 17-1 mark in Big 12 action. OU defeated UCLA, 3-1, in the 2000 NCAA College World Series championship game in Oklahoma City, Okla., for its first softball title.
Oklahoma head coach Patty Gasso returns nine starters, including four All-Americans, Big 12 Newcomer of the Year Andrea Davis, and CWS most outstanding player, Jennifer Stewart. The Sooners will be without All-American Lana Moran, who led the Big 12 in pitching with a 1.28 ERA and had a 26-2 overall record.
2000 conference tournament champion Nebraska has been voted No. 2 after finishing last season 52-21. NU head coach Rhonda Revelle returns seven starters, including second team All-America pitcher Leigh Ann Walker, who led the Big 12 with a 0.64 ERA.
The 2001 softball season begins Thursday, Feb 1, when Kansas travels to Las Cruces, N.M. for the New Mexico State Invitational.
