In 2013, the LU softball team made believers out of everyone, winning the Big South championship last May with a three-day, five-win run over Gardner-Webb, Charleston Southern, Campbell and Winthrop. The team’s first-ever berth in the NCAA Division I Tournament did not quite end as planned, with losses to Tennessee and James Madison, but the team is focused this year on returning to the sport’s grand stage.
Junior catcher Megan Baltzell said, “We are not focusing on last year at all; we have a brand new team, and the overall atmosphere is completely different. I know this team can achieve greatness one game at a time.” Baltzell won the national home run title last year with 30 homeruns in 61 games while also picking up 78 runs batted in (RBI). When asked about repeating the success of the team from last year, she said, “The team’s main goal is to win the Big South Conference tournament and to make it to the regionals two years [in a row].”
Head Coach Kathy Riley, who has been in charge of the program since 1998, is confident about this year’s team, saying, “We were predicted third in the preseason polls, which fits us perfectly because we lost key players from our team last year, but other key players who helped with the success from last season are still here, and by tournament time I’ll feel comfortable that we can defend our title.”
Those key losses include Kori Nishitomi, who transferred to Oregon State, and Brooke Short, Jordan Cox and Ashley Cornell, who graduated. Nishitomi led the team with a .440 average and 92 hits. Cornell and Short had earned run averages of 2.72 and 3.07 respectively, and Cox started 59 games at third base and picked up six doubles.
When asked what improvements she would like to see this season, Riley said, “Defending our home field, especially during conference games. Last year we had a better record on the road than we did at home.”
Key returners in the field for this year’s team include Baltzell, sophomore shortstop Emily Murphy (.318 BA, 68 RBI in 2013) and junior outfielder Chelsea Sciacca (49 hits, 15 doubles in 2013). In the circle, junior right-hander Libby Morris is expected to be the ace again after throwing for 93 strikeouts and pitching 16 complete games last season.
There are two freshman pitchers filling the void left by Short and Cornell: right-hander Jenna Carnes and southpaw Elizabeth McCarthy. The Lancers’ season starts this weekend with the Lancer Leadoff featuring home games against St. Joseph’s at 12:30 p.m., Georgetown at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday and Bucknell at 12:30 p.m. and Georgetown at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday.
