Softball begins its 2017 season at Texas State

CenturyLink Classic at Texas State Tournament Page
 

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ABILENE - Abilene Christian softball begins the tournament portion of its 2017 season this weekend with the CenturyLink Classic at Texas State. The Wildcats will play six games in three days during their stay in San Marcos, including two against Iowa and the host Bobcats.

ACU faces the Hawkeyes and Bobcats Friday and Sunday, and on Saturday the Wildcats will battle their Southland Conference rivals Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in addition to Texas Tech. The Wildcats lost three games last season to the Bobcats, split a two-game series with the Red Raiders, and won two of three games at Corpus Christi in finishing 19-8 vs. the Southland.

The Wildcats added 10 players to their roster this offseason to go along with the 11 returning players from last year's third-place squad. Of these veterans, seven were everyday players including pitchers Hannah Null and Casey-May Huff, infielders Peyton Hedrick and Holly Neese and outfielders Taylor Brown, Alli Spivey and Brianna Barnhill.

But with the influx of newcomers, head coach Bobby Reeves had to shift around a few players. Neese will move to second base after seeing time at the corner infield positions the past two years. Barnhill is taking over at first base following two years in right field, which will now be occupied by Spivey.

The left side of the infield will be composed of Huff at third base and Hedrick at shortstop, while the outfield will again feature Brown in center and newcomer Braegan Hamilton in left field. Hamilton previously played at Texas State for two seasons.

Null – a redshirt junior – is considered the ace of the staff, but she'll have excellent company in the circle between Huff and freshman Sidney Holman, who was a Second Team All-America last spring at Belton High School. Huff went 5-0 last season, tossing 43.1 innings in between 18 starts at first and third base.

Two other newcomers who can pitch are Krystian Osbourn and Tori Poullard.

Catching for the Wildcats will be senior Kaleigh Singleton, junior transfer Nicole Matise, sophomore Donelle Johnson and freshman Blair Clayton. Singleton started 11 games last spring as a backup to current volunteer assistant coach Cara Hoover. Johnson, meanwhile, started for the Wildcats in left field for nine games last season before being lost to an injury. Matise comes to ACU from Navarro College and Clayton played for Caldwell (Texas) HS.

Reeves utilized six players at designated player in 2016 and his most experienced returning hitter at this position is junior Alyson Bishoff, who batted .268 through 35 appearances and 16 starts – seven of which were at first base. 

Links to live stats and video for all six games can be found at Texas State's tournament central page.