HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – Northern Kentucky softball kicks off the 2017 campaign against some staunch competition, heading south to Athens, Georgia, for the Georgia Classic on Feb. 17-19. On the tournament's first day, the Norse take on Dayton at 12:30 p.m. ET, followed by a tangle with No. 12/10 Georgia at 3 p.m. Saturday's action begins with another matchup against the Flyers at 10 a.m. and concludes at 5:30 p.m. against Louisiana-Monroe. NKU faces the Warhawks once more to close out the tournament, with first pitch scheduled for 10:30 a.m. on Sunday morning.
THE 2017 NORSE: NKU's roster is perfectly bisected into veterans and newcomers, with 12 returners and 12 fresh faces for the Norse. At the core of the returners are seniors
Dani Devlin,
Paige McQueen and
Charlie Nolen, who provide leadership behind the plate, as a utility and in the circle. NKU will look for more strong performances out of sophomore outfielder
Zahrya McFarland, who was named to the All-Horizon League Second Team and All-Freshman Team after leading the Norse in batting average, runs scored, doubles, triples and stolen bases. The Norse also saw solid production out of junior third baseman
Kate Bartolovich, who boasted the highest slugging percentage while also blasting the most homers for the team and driving in the most RBI.
SCOUTING DAYTON: The Flyers, which were tabbed to finish second in the Atlantic 10 preseason poll, began their season last weekend at the Mercer Invitational, posting a 3-2 record with wins over Portland State (twice) and Kent State. Dayton returns its top players from the 2016 season, headlined by the 2016 A-10 Pitcher of the Year, Manda Cash. Last season, the lefty sported a 1.42 earned run average throughout 152.1 innings pitched, holding teams to a batting average of .158. Joining Cash on the A-10 First Team was Gabrielle Snyder, now a senior for the Flyers, who has led Dayton in hitting, runs scored and doubles for two straight years. While Cash is off course from her impressive stat line last season, with a 3.50 ERA and a .231 opponent batting average, Snyder has been lighting it up at the plate for the Flyers, batting .647 and slugging .941 while leading the team with 11 hits, four RBI and three runs in her five outings.
NKU holds a 12-10 advantage in the all-time series with the Flyers, but the two teams have not met since the 1996 campaign. The series was meant to be renewed last year, but poor field conditions due to inclement weather resulted in the cancellation of a mid-March doubleheader. Friday will mark the first time in the programs' histories that NKU has squared off with Dayton on neutral soil.
SCOUTING NO. 12/10 GEORGIA: NKU will waste no time in taking on one of the nation's best teams when it faces the Bulldogs on opening day, which is ranked in both the USA Today/NFCA Coaches and ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 polls. Georgia advanced to the Women's College World Series in 2016, leaving No. 1 Florida in its wake at the Super Regional to advance to the Bulldogs' third WCWS in program history. The Bulldogs will host their second nonconference tournament after sweeping opponents at the 10th Annual Red and Black Showcase on Feb. 10-12 for a 5-0 record so far. Three Bulldogs earned Preseason All-Southeastern Conference honors, led by the Emanuel sisters, Sydni and Cortni. The two carried the top batting averages on the team in 2016 at .441 and .404, respectively, with Sydni recording a team-best 25 multi-hit games. Cortni landed on the USA Softball Player of the Year Top 50 Watch List for the second straight year after earning NFCA All-Region honors in 2016, leading the team with 82 hits and 56 runs while nabbing 33 bases. In the circle, Georgia's top hurlers have been LHP Kylie Bass and RHP Brittany Gray, both of whom sport an ERA under .70 and have been holding opponents under a .200 clip.
SCOUTING LOUISIANA-MONROE: The Norse will square off with the Warhawks for the second and third time in the history of the two teams, the first being a high-scoring setback to lift the lid on the 2016 season. Last year, Louisiana-Monroe edged out NKU on Feb. 19 for a 14-10 win in Nashville. ULM returns its top player from 2016, with Rochelle Roberts on the roster for her senior season, but it is unclear whether the Warhawks' stud will see action this year after missing the final 12 games of 2016 to injury. Roberts was a USA Today Top 25 Player of the Year Candidate and was the first Warhawk to earn All-South Region honors since 2011 after breaking the ULM single-season batting average (.483), but did not see the field in the team's season-opening tournament last weekend. The Warhawks fared well without her, compiling a 4-1 record with the lone loss being a 2-1 setback to SIUE. Barring the loss, the Warhawks have showcased a high-powered offense with an average 10 runs scored throughout four wins. ULM also has a reliable pitching duo with righties Melanie Coyne and Paige Porter, with Coyne boasting a .60 ERA throughout 15.0 innings pitched while Porter leads the team in strikeouts with 11 in 10.0 innings.
