College of Charleston
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Kansas
Charleston Opens 2018 Softball Season at Stetson Leadoff Classic
2/9/2018 4:28:00 PM | Softball
Charleston, S.C. – The College of Charleston softball team opens its 2018 campaign this weekend with four games at the Stetson Leadoff Classic in DeLand, Fla.
On Saturday the Cougars will face Kansas at 11 a.m. and the host Hatters at 4 p.m. Charleston meets the Jayhawks for a second time on Sunday at 10 a.m. followed by a contest against Akron at noon.
Live stats will be available for all four games, the Stetson game will be streamed live and Kansas radio will provide broadcasts of the two games against the Jayhawks. Click here for links to stats, video and radio.
The Cougars have only played Kansas once, a 6-5 loss at Patriots Point in 2014. The series with Akron is tied at four wins apiece, with the last meeting being a 5-0 Charleston home victory in 2013. The Cougars and Hatters had a lengthy history when both were members of the Trans American Athletic Conference, and Stetson has won 27 of 33 meetings. The teams last met in Orlando in 2016 with Stetson winning 4-3.
Linda Kalafatis brings a 132-91 record into her fifth season as head coach at Charleston, and she is 940-566-2 in 28 seasons overall. A year ago the Cougars finished 33-23, reaching the 30-win plateau for the sixth time in the past seven seasons, and were third in the Colonial Athletic Association with a 12-9 mark.
The Cougars return seven position players who started at least 34 games last season, including All-CAA selections Taylor DuPree and Taylor Belfiore (first team) and Jordin Jones, Sara Garcia and Kelly Sinclair (second team).
The pitching staff will have a strong 1-2 combination in sophomores Izzy Berouty, a member of the CAA All-Rookie team last year, and Brittany Violette, who returns from a season-ending shoulder injury prior to the start of league play last spring.
Charleston opens its home season next week when it hosts the Cougar Classic at Patriots Point beginning with a Thursday game against DePaul at 4 p.m.
Kansas
The Jayhawks, celebrating the 50th year of their softball program, finished 24-28 in 2017, snapping a string of three straight 30-win seasons including consecutive appearances in the NCAA Tournament in 2014-15.
Kansas returns its top three hitters from a year ago, a trio led by Harli Ridling (.326, 11 HR, 37 RBI), who was named second-team All-Big 12. Erin McGinley (.337, 5 HR, 22 RBI, 19 steals) and Jessie Roane (.318, 16 doubles, 40 RBI) also spearhead the offense. Sarah Miller and Mandy Roberts both won four games in the circle last year, the most among returning Kansas pitchers.
Stetson
The Hatters were 26-21 a year ago after winning at least 30 games the previous four seasons including a 39-14 mark in 2014 when they made their most recent NCAA Tournament appearance.
Ashly Smith (.376, 6 HR, 32 RBI) was named to the All-Atlantic Sun second team and is the top returning hitter. Stetson ran wild in 2017, stealing 132 bases, but lost most of those thefts to graduation. However, Linda Ross is back after going a perfect 22-for-22 in that department. Tori Perkins paces the pitching staff after winning eight games with a 3.06 ERA last year.
Akron
The Zips have won 29 games each of the past two seasons and have one of the top pitchers in the Mid-American Conference in Lexie Handley, who was named the MAC Freshman Pitcher of the Year last spring. She won 17 games with a 2.82 ERA and struck out 164 batters in 204.1 innings.
Akron's offense took a hit from graduation, losing its top three batters. Alyssa Nicholas tops the returners with a .271 average and 16 RBI, and Taylor Kirian is also back after recording 21 RBI and a team-leading 11 doubles.
