Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Softball Looks To Repeat As MVC Champions In 2005
01/24/2005 | 12:00:00 | Softball
Jan. 24, 2005
By Lou Antoine
SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - After leading Southern Illinois to two of the best seasons in school history in consecutive years, just what more can be expected from SIU head coach Kerri Blaylock and her Salukis in 2005?
With spring practice underway in preparation for the Feb. 12 opener against Ball State at the Ole Miss Rebel Classic, it's a question many have asked following Southern Illinois' record-breaking 2004 season.
During the season the Salukis lived up to 2004 MVC preseason expectations as the favorite, by winning its first Missouri Valley Conference regular season title, and equaling the success of a record-breaking 2003 season.
The team set a school record with 45 wins (45-17), tied a school record set in 2003 with 18 MVC wins (18-6), and earned a second straight NCAA Tournament at-large bid in the process.
The 2004 bid earned SIU the first back-to-back NCAA Tournament trips in school history and a second consecutive 3-2 performance at an NCAA Regional. The end result was an NFCA Top 25 ranking in the final poll (#24 in 2004, #22 in 2003) for the second straight season, another first for Saluki softball.
Having a bulls eye on their back with SIU's first preseason ranking in 2004 was initially tough for Blaylock, but it's that expectation of success that her team wants to continue in 2005.
"I honestly think the team was better than I was when we were ranked last year to open the season. I had the seniors tell me that they would get it done and to relax. It taught me to trust in them and this year we have levelheaded kids that can do the job. They don't want us to look like the new kid on the block, they want this program to be at this level more than two years," added Blaylock.
Following the loss of five seniors and the toughest schedule in school history lying ahead, Blaylock was initially worried about great expectations being placed on her 2005 team, but a successful fall season changed her mind.
"I think I was a bit more apprehensive until after the fall season watching the team come together. We've got some pretty good kids that are joining our team this season," stated Blaylock. "Anytime you lose the five kids we lost, it's a big loss. You lose the cornerstone of your infield, a catcher, a pitcher, and a leadoff hitter, but I'm really pleased with the way the junior and senior class has stepped up with leadership and the way the freshmen have played in the fall. I think the key is having three of the four pitchers back, minus our closer Alison Thompson."
Despite the losses, Blaylock returns 12 athletes, including seven who started on a regular basis, and three of four pitchers, led by Amy Harre, one of the top pitchers in the MVC and the nation. Cassidy Scoggins and Ashley Hamby join Harre to form a pitching staff that usually serves as SIU strength.
"Obviously I think one of our strengths should be our pitching because of our returnees, but I'll go out on a limb and say offensively I'm looking for a breakout season. We did some good things in the fall and I'm looking to continue that in the spring. I'm starting to see our veterans make adjustments when we need to make adjustments," said Blaylock. "We've always prided ourselves on pitching and defense, but I'm really ready to see our offense and I'm starting to see some great things."
Speaking of hitting, the returnees in the field are led by career home run leader Katie Jordan. She's joined by fellow outfielder Maria Damico and catcher Amanda Clifton, who all earned all-conference honors.
Infield starters Katie Louis (1B/3B), Samantha Carter (2B) and Kelly Creek (1B/DP) also return along with multi-dimensional Lauren Roney, who started at catcher, second base and outfield. Reserve outfielders Alex Pepin and Christina Andrews also return.
Blaylock added a strong freshman class featuring shortstop Becky Wegmann, outfielders Tiffanie Dismore, Krystal Stein, Chelsea Petty and Clare Ford, and infielder Lauren Haas, who can all run and are expected to provide a strong offensive presence, depth and flexibility in 2005.
"We're excited about the offense and this season. It's a combination of the newcomers and the veterans. You start recruiting kids that are playing at a high level all the time, but I'm starting to see some people like Kelly Creek, Amanda Clifton and Katie Louis have great fall seasons and you see people turn the corner and look forward to some things," said Blaylock. "What I love is that pitchers Hamby and Scoggins can hit and could hit in a lot of places and I just have to find a spot for them. Last year I wanted them to focus on pitching. I'm excited to turn them loose and we have some pinch hitters that can come off the bench and do some things. I'm excited to get going."
In addition to their solid pitching and expected offensive increase, the Saluki defense can't be forgotten after finishing third in the MVC and 30th in the nation with a .967 fielding percentage. SIU had four players who didn't commit an error, including catch/first baseman Clifton, pitcher Scoggins (35 chances), first baseman Creek (22 chances) and outfielder Pepin (five chances).
Pitching
For the first time in seven years, SIU didn't win the MVC overall ERA title, finishing with the number two staff in the Valley overall (1.05 ERA), which ranked ninth nationally. That staff did lead the MVC with a 1.07 ERA in league play, led by Harre, a senior.
Harre recently attended the U.S. National Team Camp in January and became the first Saluki to represent USA Softball, when she was selected to play for the USA Elite team in the 1st World University Games last October. She went 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA and nine strikeouts as a member of the USA gold medal-winning team at the tournament.
The senior led the staff with a 0.80 ERA, which was second in the Valley and 11th in the nation. Harre went 21-7 with 23 complete games, 178 strikeouts and a SIU-record 14 shutouts in 2004, improving her position as the SIU career leader with a 0.95 ERA.
She earned 1st Team Academic All-American, 1st Team All-District V, 1st Team All-Great Lakes Region, 1st Team All-MVC, and MVC All-Tournament Team and NCAA Region VII All-Tournament Team honors.
"As long as she's healthy, what can you say about Amy Harre. She's an NCAA All-Regional performer who threw a couple great games at the NCAA Tournament last spring. She has so much experience, including international experience with the USA Elite team in October, where she won a gold medal at the 1st World University games and January in the Olympic team camp. I'll take Harre against any non-conference opponent in the country. Everyone in the conference has seen her so much and they're not intimidated. I think she's learning how to deal with that and we've got a few new wrinkles to spring on some people with her and she has a lot of maturity and lot of fight in her," said Blaylock.
Sophomores Scoggins (13-4, 1.27 ERA) and Hamby (6-2, 1.22 ERA) join Harre from a staff that had 23 shutouts and 338 strikeouts, while allowing just 266 hits in 426.2 innings in 2004, to provide what should be the strength of an experienced team.
"Cassidy Scoggins won 13 games as a freshman including one at the regional, which was way more than I expected. Ashley Hamby has had a tremendous fall and is pitching and hitting the ball well. She's throwing harder than I've seen her throw, so I think she'll be a huge contributor also. I'm feeling real good about all three pitchers," Blaylock stated.
Outfield
The Salukis return two of three starters from their outfield, including 1st Team All-MVC senior outfielder Katie Jordan (62 starts in 2004), who set the SIU career home run record with her 25th career home run in 2004. Her 11 home runs last year rank second in a single season as a Saluki. Jordan, who will start in leftfield for the third straight year, also set new RBI (45) and walk records (43) for a single season. The 43 walks ranked 14th in the nation.
Fellow senior outfielder Maria Damico (45 starts) was named to the 2004 MVC All-Tournament Team and will be in centerfield for the fourth straight year. The rightfield spot left open will be a wide-open competition among returnees and newcomers.
"I think there are several people who will be vying for Lindsey Bonnell's spot in rightfield and outfield playing time. We will have five or six people playing in that 75 percent time frame in the outfield. Jordan and Damico are obviously cornerstones of our outfield and you've got the freshmen Stein, Dismore and Petty, who can play all three outfield positions, and when they're not playing the outfield can serve as designated players," said Blaylock.
"We also have Pepin (5 starts), a sophomore, and Andrews, a junior. Pepin has some good experience from last year and can fly around. We also have a freshman walk-on Clare Ford, who has turned out to be a tremendous base runner and athlete, who I think can do a lot of things. Stein was hurt all fall, but she's a leadoff hitter and lefty slapper, who can run like the wind. Dismore had a great fall, hitting around .400. She's a good lefty bat with a lot of speed and Petty has a lot of power and previous playing experience."
Infield
Last year SIU returned everyone who started a game in the infield, but will have to replace 2nd Team All-MVC shortstop Jenny Doehring and third baseman Haley Viefhaus in 2005, who were two of the best defensive players in the Valley. Blaylock will be making some changes in the infield, especially on the left side in 2005, but has some options.
"I think we start over at third. This fall Lauren Haas got hurt immediately and didn't play much in the fall. Haas was a great high school shortstop, who we want to move to third base. We also want to move Katie Louis over from first base (50 starts) to play third base as well, giving us more wrinkles. Becky Wegmann will be our starting shortstop as a freshman. She's a true shortstop who can throw off one foot, go into the hole for an out, and has a tremendous backhand with great knowledge of the game. Louis or Hass will play shortstop behind Wegmann," said Blaylock.
Junior Samantha Carter will start at second base (47 starts) and Lauren Roney will play some second base, as well as outfield, when she's not catching (47 combined starts). Katie Louis, Kelly Creek (37 starts at 1B/DP) and Ashley Hamby, new to the position, will play first base.
"If Louis is at third base, Creek or Hamby will be at first base. Hamby has been a surprise with her athletic ability and really stepped up. Creek has really stepped up and will be the designated player when she's not at first base. Some of our outfielders or Hamby will also play designated player. We've got a lot of different looks this year," Blaylock added.
Catcher
Sophomore catcher Amanda Clifton will handle most of the catching duties following the graduation of Adie Viefhaus, who started 166 games at catcher the last three years. Clifton returns after being named Honorable Mention All-MVC in her first season as a utility player (Catcher/1B). She had a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage with no errors in 174 chances and threw out seven of 17 base runners. Clifton has recovered from a sore arm and will share time with Roney, a junior, who started 10 games at catcher in 2003.
"With Amanda's arm, early in the year, Lauren and Amanda will be splitting time and when it gets to conference play, we'll just see. Lauren is so versatile; we'll move her around. When she's not playing catcher, she'll be playing somewhere else. Amanda and Lauren will do the majority of the catching," said Blaylock.
Schedule
The Salukis probably have the toughest schedule in school history, featuring 2004 World Series participants Michigan and runner-up California, in addition to at least seven other NCAA Tournament teams. Blaylock's 2005 team will compete in the prestigious NFCA Leadoff Classic, as well as the UNLV Rebel Tournament, the Florida State Invitational, the Ole Miss Rebel Classic and its own Kay Brechtelsbauer Southern Classic before MVC play starts in March with Drake.
This is our toughest schedule on record, but I underestimate our team sometimes. They like being underdogs up against the big name schools. They love the challenge. That doesn't mean we'll go out and win 75% of these games against the tough non-conference opponents we face, but I'm saying that we'll compete hard," stated Blaylock.
"With our pitching staff, all it can do is help our RPI at the beginning of the year. You have to go out to play those people to be ready. I'm honored to be in those great tournaments (UNLV, NFCA) and play Cal, Michigan, South Carolina, Georgia Tech, Florida, Michigan State and so on. That's how you get better, so we're really hoping to play well. When you get a chance to play in the NFCA Leadoff Classic, one of the premiere tournaments, you have to take it and you don't know whom you'll play when you accept an invitation. The kids are excited about it and we're just going to give it a whirl."
The 2005 Goal
Despite the tough non-conference schedule, Blaylock and her team are focused on winning SIU's second straight MVC title and reaching an NCAA Regional for the third straight year, making more school history.
"We talked about it and we want to win another league championship. We feel with our pitching staff returning and our veteran leadership, there's no reason why we shouldn't push for another title. We want to do that and get back to another NCAA Regional Tournament. We just want to win the league and then we'll worry about the conference tournament later. Our schedule is so tough that we just want to be competitive and get ready for the league race," added Blaylock.
"These freshmen coming in are not slouches. I'm not making the statement that we are going to win it, but that's our goal and we want to be in the top of our conference."
Being A Favorite In The MVC
Although SIU was chosen to win the conference in 2004 and followed through successfully to accomplish its goal of the school's first MVC regular season title, Blaylock knows each season is different and may bring a different preseason favorite in 2005.
"It takes a special team to be picked number one and go through the season and finish number one and we did that in 2004. The team last year should be proud, but I bet Creighton will be picked to finish first since we lost five seniors from that team," Blaylock stated.
"Last year it went down to the last weekend to see who would be in the MVC Tournament and win the title. I see Creighton, Illinois State, Wichita State, Drake, Evansville, SMS, Bradley and SIU as contenders for a title. Each week will be tough in the Valley. The bottom of the league has come up to meet the top creating tough match-ups each week."
The Coaching Staff
Blaylock and her staff were named MVC Staff of the Year for the third straight time in 2004, which should help the Salukis on their way to a repeat title. Her .726 winning percentage in 2004 ranked 16th in the nation. The sixth-year coach hopes to continue her impressive success (192-89 record) over the last five years, which ranks her 18th nationally in winning percentage (.683) among all Division I coaches with five years service or more. Blaylock also has a 6-4 record (.600) in NCAA Tournament play, including the first and only NCAA wins in SIU history.
