Texas Tech University Athletics
Softball Season Begins
February 09, 2010 | Softball
Feb. 9, 2010
LUBBOCK, Texas - First year head coach Shanon Hays welcomes 11 new players to his roster who combine with 10 returning players as the team heads to the warmer weather of Tempe, Ariz., to compete at the ASU Kajikawa Classic. The team will face Wisconsin, Southern Utah, Auburn, Oregon and San Diego State over the four days in the desert, beginning with a game with Wisconsin on Thursday, Feb. 11 at 6:30 p.m. (CT).
"We play teams from the Big 10, the Summit League, the SEC, Pac-10 and the Mountain West to begin our season," said Coach Hays. "We'll know in a hurry what we're made of and how we will compete. It's a good schedule for us. Our ladies have been scrimmaging very hard over the fall practice season and now in intrasquad scrimmages since the beginning of the spring semester. So much, in fact, that we're anxious to get out there and see how we measure up with these other teams," he continued.
Senior starters Leah Legler (infield) and Ashly Jacobs (right-handed pitcher) highlight the veteran players, along with a key group of young returnees who saw more action than usual for a freshman group during the rugged 2009 season. Jacobs, who tried to pitch for much of 2009 with a badly injured right foot, spent the final three weeks of the season in a boot and had surgery over the summer. She was cleared to pitch early in January and has been practicing since the semester began. Jacobs currently ranks as the program's third most successful hurler with 36 wins. Legler, who has started for three seasons as either an outfielder, second baseman or short stop, brings a career .319 batting average (fourth-best, all-time at Tech) to the top of the order for Hays.
Among the returning core of playes are sophomores Emily Bledsoe (IF), Stephanie Drewry (OF), Holley Gentsch (C), Ashley Hamada (OF), Karli Merlich (LHP) and Skyler Peterson. The five position players saw significant starting time at key positions and Merlich got solid experience during the gauntlet which is the Big 12 season. Bledsoe, one of three players to start each of the 57 games played in 2009, started at the short stop, for example, and Gentsch handled most of the catching chores for the team. Drewry finished with a .339 season batting average which ranks second on Tech's all-time career list. Jen Lee (C) and Danielle Matthews (IF) each return for their junior seasons and round out the returning players.
Adding much-needed depth to the Red Raiders, Hays was able to mix a number of junior college or transfer players in with a strong signing class of freshmen from the previous coaching regimes.
Heading that list are sophomores: infielder Logan Hall (Pima CC), right-handed pitcher Hillary Phillips (Centenary College of Louisiana), outfielder Meredith Heath (Chipola CC), and infielder Raven Richardson (Yavapai CC) who joined the team for the spring semester. Freshmen newcomers include outfielder Mikey Kenney (Arvada West HS), right-handed pitcher Ashley Brokeshoulder (Shawnee HS), infielder Kristen Reeves (Elkins HS), catcher Randi Tongate (Weatherford HS), outfielder McKenzie Clemmons (Piedmont HS), outfielder Desiree Harvey (Destrehan HS) and outfielder Jordan Palmer (Joshua HS).
"We have improved not only our numbers, but our speed. We have added some players who should give us some pop in the middle of the lineup and, importantly, I think we have the makings of a very good staff of pitchers. Jacobs is key for us, obviously, because she has such good experience, but I think our young core of pitchers give us a real shot to compete throughout the season," Hays added.
Scouting the opponents:
Wisconsin (Big 10) - Head coach Chandelle Schulte, now in her fifth year, brings a Badger squad that had similar struggles to the Red Raiders in 2009, finishing with a 15-40 record, 3-17 in the Big 10. The two teams met for the first time in the program's history last year at the New Mexico tournament with a split result, Tech winning 5-4 in eight innings in the first game and then the Badgers retaliated a day later with a 2-1 win in regulation.
Southern Utah (Summit League) - Head coach Julie Strand begins her fourth season at the Thunderbirds' helm. The 2009 team finished 24-31, 14-11 in Summit League action and returns leading hitter Aly Daniels who belted 58 hits for the Thunderbirds, good for a .354 average. Handling an overwhelming 77 percent of her team's pitching chores, Kristina Brooks (22-24, in 284.2 innings pitched) returns for her senior season. (Hopefully, she rested her arm over the break!) The Red Raiders and Thunderbirds are 1-1 all-time, having faced each other last in 1997 when most of the current players were in kindergarten, so it hardly seems relevant. (You won't get this type of insight anywhere else, folks, so be sure to bookmark our fan Web site!)
Auburn (Southeastern Conference) - Head Coach Tina Deese begins her 14th season at Auburn. The 2009 Tigers went 30-29, 9-19 in the powerful SEC conference and return 12 starters from that squad, including the three pitchers. Kyndall White is their most prolific returning hitter (.275 with 55 hits and 26 runs scored) and Anna Thompson (15 wins and a 2.28 ERA) lead the way for the Tigers. Auburn has the dubious distinction of opening the 2010 season against the nation's defending national champion and pre-season No. 1 Washington Huskies. Following that the Tigers face host No. 5 Arizona State before they play the Red Raiders in Tempe. Tech and Auburn have played only one game with the Tigers prevailing, 4-1, in 2005.
Oregon (Pacific-10) - First year head coach Mike White hopes to right a Ducks' ship which competes in the nation's toughest softball conference as he takes over the wheel of a 16-34 team which finished 3-18 in the Pac-10. He inherits one of the nation's finest players in Neena Bryant (top-50 watch list). The speedster whacked 49 hits during the 2009 campaign to finish with a .314 average against the likes of national player of the year Danielle Lawry of Washington. She stole 27 of 29 bases attempted for good measure. Samantha Skillingstad returns for her sophomore year in the circle, after picking up 12 of the team's 16 wins with a 2.36 ERA. The Red Raiders are 1-6 all-time against the Ducks, with the last meeting a 4-3 loss at the Kajikawa Classic in nine innings.
San Diego State (Mountain West) - Now in her 14th season at SDSU, head coach Kathy Van Wyk returns six position starters and a pair of strong pitchers from a squad that finished 33-20, 10-5 in the MWC and which advanced to the Tempe Regional in 2009. Monica Alnes headlines the offense as the first-baseman hit for a .303 average with nine home runs and 77 runs batted in for the Aztecs, while Samantha Beasley (22-15) and Bailey Micetich (19-7) both return to the circle. The Red Raiders are 5-3 all-time versus the Aztecs, with the teams splitting a pair of games last season in beautiful San Diego, Calif.
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