Seasoned veterans, talented newcomers comprise ACU's first D-I softball squad

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ABILENE - Abilene Christian's 18th season of softball and first as a NCAA D-I member of the Southland Conference starts Sunday, Feb. 9 when the Wildcats welcome Texas Lutheran for a 1 p.m. doubleheader at Poly Wells Field.

The Wildcats and Bulldogs - a D-III school from the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference - have only played once previously and that was all the way back in 1999 with ACU winning, 5-4.

Live stats will be made available for both ends of the twin bill, which is part of a season-opening seven-game homestand that also features a double dip vs. Prairie View A&M (Feb. 12) and three-game weekend series against Oklahoma Christian (Feb. 14-15).

Additionally, this year's schedule features two tournament stops at Texas Tech, where fourth-year ACU head coach Bobby Reeves spent several years as both an assistant coach and manager (1997-99 and 2001-04), and another in Denton hosted by North Texas.

Southland Conference play begins March 22 on the road at Incarnate Word, but because the Wildcats and Cardinals are in their first year of the D-I transition process, neither will play a full league slate and won't be eligible to win the conference title until 2018. In fact, ACU only will play six of the 14 Southland schools that sponsor softball this season - and this includes a home-and-home series vs. UIW.

The Division II years were quite kind to the Wildcats as they finished their 17-year tenure with a .548 winning percentage, 453 wins, four NCAA Championship appearances and Lone Star Conference South Division titles, and nine showings at the conference tournament, including 2013.

Last year's team made it into the postseason at 28-26, which was the program's third-straight winning season under Reeves' as he fielded a team that featured four all-conference honorees and two-time all-region selection Keanna Winkfield. But Winkfield is gone this season as are fellow all-conference players Sara Vaughn, who didn't miss a single game at shortstop over the past two years, and Caitlyn Crain, who saved a single-season program record five games in 2013 on top of finishing among the top-five in the LSC with a 2.74 ERA and 134 strikeouts.

The Wildcats also lost four-year pitcher Shelby Hall (9-4, 3.15 ERA) to graduation, but more importantly, Reeves and his second-year assistant coaches Debby and Teddy Abbott were able to bring back seven full-time starters while adding six newcomers and retaining four additional letterwinners.

Tops among ACU's returning players are senior standouts Madison Buckley, Courtney Flanary, Lyndi Smith and Peyton Mosley. 

An everyday left fielder the previous two seasons, Buckley batted .289 from the No. 3 spot last year (behind Winkfield and Vaughn) with nine sacrifice hits and has a trusted bat that makes her a viable option for the leadoff spot.

Flanary and Smith, meanwhile, are the Wildcats' two leading power hitters. Smith made second team all-LSC in 2013 as its designated player after batting .371 (62-for-167) with a team-best 10 home runs and 50 RBI. She also can handle either corner infield position and catch. In 24 games behind the plate last year, Smith hit .403 with 12 extra-base hits, while allowing just two passed balls defensively.

It's expected Smith will continue to split time at catcher with sophomore Cara Hoover (.252/5 HR/25 RBI) and the infield with Flanary, who hit .285 with eight home runs and 31 RBI despite missing several games due to a partially torn anterior cruciate ligament. Flanary was a 2012 all-conference first team honoree and its Newcomer of the Year.

Mosley is the Wildcats' lone returning pitcher and was absolutely tremendous two seasons ago as her first team all-conference honor was backed up by a 2.59 ERA, three shutouts and .252 opponents' batting average. Unfortunately, last year's numbers didn't quite stack up to her sophomore season, but she still tossed seven complete games, struck out a career high 10 batters vs. UIW and won back-to-back games for the Wildcats at the NFCA D-II leadoff classic.

Mosley will be joined in the circle this spring by sought-after recruits Hannah Null and Emily Seidel. The 2013 Texas 5-5A Pitcher of the Year, Null was part of a nationally top-five program at Marcus High School where she allowed just 11 earned runs in 30 games pitched as a senior (0.41 ERA) while racking up 332 strikeouts. She also had a stretch in which she went 14 games without allowing an earned run.

After spending 2012 at Nevada, Seidel transferred to Mt. San Antonio College and collected numerous postseason honors after going 27-4 record with six shutouts and posting South Coast Conference bests in ERA (1.83) and strikeouts (251). Her CCCFA & 3CFCA all-America resume from last season also includes a perfect game against Long Beach City College, the conference and Southern California Regional Championships, and multiple Pitcher of the Year honors.

The academic all-America can swing the bat too as evident by her .397 average with eight home runs and 32 RBI. Seidel, who is expected to play some at third base this season, also recorded a .414 on base percentage and .782 slugging percentage in 2013.

Backing up the pitching staff at the middle infield positions will be a combination of returning sophomores Demi McNulty and Taylor Fitzgerald and newcomers Tori Valdivia and Kyla Simmons. McNulty and Fitzgerald combined for 52 of 54 possible starts at second base last season. And while Fitzgerald started an additional 10 games at first base, no other Wildcat besides Vaughn has played shortstop since 2011.

Simmons was a catcher during her decorated high school career at Royse City High School but also played quite a bit at third, shortstop and second base. She was the 2013 Defensive Player of the Year, and in seasons prior was named Utility Player of the Year (2012) and Catcher of the Year.

Valdivia - a product of Trabuco Canyon, Calif. and Crean Lutheran High School - can play both middle infield positions and the outfield. The defending Academy League Player of the Year batted over .500 the last two seasons and was part of a team in 2013 that went 9-0 in winning the league championship.

Junior Kaylee Crozier played some at second base and made one start at third base last year as she was primarily used as a pinch runner in late-inning situations. Of the 12 runs Crozier scored in 2013, nine were as a pinch runner. She also stole three bases and appeared in a team-high 33 games as a substitute.

ACU's outfield also comes with some question marks as the coaching staff looks to replace the Lone Star Conference Golden Glove of Winkfield with a combination of four returning outfielders and newcomers Taylor Brown and Jacquelyn Perez.

Even though Buckley and Winkfield were staples in left and center for ACU all of last season, the same couldn't be said for right field as the Wildcats utilized senior Ashley Nolan (22 starts), and sophomores Anna Jones (17), Paige Stevens (14) and McNulty (1). The Wildcats went 12-5 in games started by Jones in right, but Stevens was the best hitter of this group, batting .324 (12-37) as an outfield starter with four runs and four RBI.  

Brown comes to the team with a solid bat and some serious speed. The 2013 graduate of L.D. Bell High School batted .606 as a senior with 60 stolen bases, and hit .441 as a junior with 54 thefts.

A sophomore, Perez transferred to ACU from Central Christian College where she was an all-conference honoree capable of playing center field, catching, or patrolling the left side of the infield. At Canyon High School, Perez played shortstop and second base.