QU Softball Begins Michele Smith Spring Break Classic on Friday at USF
3/12/2015 12:00:00 AM | Softball
After seven games in Fort Meyers at Florida Gulf Coast University, the Bobcats will hit the road for the Michele Smith Spring Break Tournament in Clearwater, Florida. Quinnipiac will start the tournament on Friday, March 12 against Central Michigan at 9 a.m. The Bobcats will play five games on the weekend.
USF Michele Smith Spring Break Tournament
USF Softball Stadium – Clearwater, Fla.
Quinnipiac University Bobcats (2-9, 0-0 MAAC)
Central Michigan Chippewas (5-10, 0-0 Mid-American Conference)
Seton Hall Pirates (8-12, 0-0 BIG EAST)
Purdue Boilermakers (12-8, 0-0 B1G TEN)
Northern Illinois Huskies (8-11, 0-0 Mid-American Conference)
Colgate Raiders (1-3, 0-0 Patriot)
2015 Michele Smith Spring Break Schedule
Friday, March 13
Quinnipiac vs. Central Michigan – 9 AM
Quinnipiac vs. Seton Hall – 1:45 PM
Saturday, March 14
Quinnipiac vs. Purdue – 9 AM
Quinnipiac vs. Northern Illinois – 1:45 PM
Sunday, March 15
Quinnipiac vs. Colgate – 9 AM
SCOUTING CENTRAL MICHIGAN
The Chippewas will enter the tournament against Quinnipiac after going 3-3 in a prior tournament at USF. Central Michigan has won three of their last four including victories over Maine, Wisconsin and Boston College. CMU started off the season with six consecutive losses and stand at 5-10 overall on the year. Senior shortstop Carol Ann Sexauer has played just nine games but leads the offense with a .379 batting average. The senior is only one hit shy of the team lead with 11 and occupies a .483 slugging percentage. As of March 8, Rachel Knapp holds a 4.05 earned run average, but has pitched four complete games including two shutouts. She is 1-4 on the season through six starts while adding one save.
SCOUTING SETON HALL
The Pirates enter the weekend with a 9-12 overall record and winners of two of their last three. Seton Hall went 1-1 against the Bobcats last opponent, Western Michigan. After falling to the Broncos 4-3 in 10 innings, the Pirates got redemption with a 14-13 win on Wednesday. Seton Hall began the season with five consecutive wins at the University of North Texas Round Robin. SHU has five hitters over a .300 batting average with Valerie Suto leading the pack at .375. Alexis Walkden leads the team in slugging percentage at an incredible .978 while adding 19 RBI, 17 hits and a batting average of .370. Through 10 starts and 14 appearances, starting pitcher Lauren Fischer is 4-5 on the year with a 4.01 ERA. Fischer has six complete games and 25 strikeouts over 57.2 innings pitched.
SCOUTING PURDUE
The Boilermakers make their way to Clearwater with a 12-8 overall record. After starting off 2015 with four losses, Purdue won nine straight games. Purdue is coming off a 2-3 outing at the Tennessee Invitational with wins over Indiana State and Northern Iowa. Senior infielder Ashley Burkhardt leads the team in nearly every offensive category including average (.413), runs (16), hits (26), doubles (4), home runs (6), RBI (24), slugging percentage (.762), on base percentage (.465) and stolen bases (12). Lilly Fecho leads the pitching staff with a 10-4 record and a stellar 1.22 earned run average. Through 13 starts, Fecho has three shutouts while adding 113 strikeouts and a save.
SCOUTING NORTHERN ILLINOIS
The Huskies enter the Classic with an 8-11 overall record after losing a doubleheader in Orlando to the University of Central Florida. NIU will begin the tournament with three games before facing the Bobcats, on Friday they will take on Purdue and Yale before meeting Canisius, Saturday morning. Sophomore Kayti Grable leads the Husky offense with an impressive .475 batting average through 59 at bats. Grable has 28 hits, five home runs and 14 RBI while adding a .746 slugging percentage. Starting pitchers Keegan Hayes and Jessica Strum are a combined 8-10 while Hayes leads staff with a 3.18 ERA. Strum has four complete games and 30 strikeouts on the season.
SCOUTING COLGATE
After having their first five games cancelled, Colgate comes to Florida just 1-3 on the season. The Raiders began the season with three straight losses in the Stetson Tournament before taking down Alabama State in their most recent contest, 11-0. Through four games, Mariel Schlaefer leads the offense with a .545 batting average. Schlaefer recorded six hits off 11 at bats with a slugging percentage of .636. At 0-2 on the young season, Kira Griswold leads the pitching staff with a 2.63 earned run average. Through two starts, she has one complete game and has allowed just four earned runs.
LAST TIME OUT
The Bobcats fell to Western Michigan University, 8-0 on Thursday afternoon in Clearwater, Florida. Quinnipiac only reached base three times off of two hits and a walk. Nikki Barba went 1-for-1 with a walk while starting pitcher Sydney Robey finished the day 1-for-2.
BARBA HEATING UP
After going hitless in three consecutive games, senior Nikki Barba is 8-for-12 in her last 5 games. Against Florida Gulf Coast, Barba went 4-for-4 in the loss.
FRESHMAN FIRST
Freshman starting pitcher Casey Herzog recorded her first career win in a stellar performance against Boston University. Herzog pitched a complete game and allowed just one run while striking out six.
FGCU'S FOUR POINTS SPRING BREAK CLASSIC
Last weekend, the Bobcats went 1-5 at the Florida Gulf Coast Tournament. Quinnipiac surrendered four straight losses against tough competition before taking down Boston University, 2-1. Last week's MAAC Pitcher of the Week, Casey Herzog picked up a complete game in the victory.
UNC CHARLOTTE'S FIRST PITCH CLASSIC
The Bobcats kicked of the 2015 season at UNC Charlotte for the First Pitch Classic with Army, Ohio and Charlotte. Quinnipiac went 1-3 on the weekend with a 7-5 victory over Army. Against the Black Knights, senior Nikki Barba went 2-for-4 with two RBI and one run scored. Left fielder Keilani Finley added two hits on three at bats including one of two Quinnipiac doubles. Sydney Robey secured the win, going 4.1 innings allowing two earned runs on seven hits.
LEADING THROUGH THE WEEKEND
Junior Molly Jarrett led the Bobcat offense at the First Pitch Classic, going 4-for-7 in three games to start the season with a team leading .571 batting average. Jarrett added a home run, three RBI and has a perfect 1.000 slugging percentage.
BOBCATS SWEEP WEEKLY MAAC AWARDS
Quinnipiac swept the weekly Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference awards for the week ending February 15. Jarrett earned MAAC Player of the Week honors after the junior infielder batted a team-high .571 (4-for-7) in three games at the Bobcats' season opening tournament. In the final game of the series, Jarrett went 2-for-2 with a home run. Freshman hurler Casey Herzog was named the MAAC Pitcher of the Week after she made her collegiate debut at the First Pitch Classic, collecting her first career hit in the Bobcats' season-opener against Ohio. She also made four appearances out of the bullpen for the Bobcats, picking up a save in relief in a 7-5 win against Army on Friday. Miranda Magana batted .400 (4-for-10) with a team-high two runs scored to earn MAAC Rookie of the Week honors. Magana was 2-for-2 in her collegiate debut against Ohio on Friday, Feb. 13 before going 2-for-3 with a run scored in a win against Army.
THE BOBCATS AND THE MAAC PRESEASON POLL
The Quinnipiac University softball team was picked to finish seventh in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll, as announced by the conference office on Friday, Jan. 30, 2015.
PRESEASON ALL-METRO ATLANTIC ATHLETIC CONFERENCE
In addition, seniors Nikki Barba (San Diego, California) and Jordan Paolucci (Lake Mary, Florida) were named to the Preseason All-MAAC Team.
BARBA'S BAT
Nikki Barba enters 2015 after hitting .336 (42-125), which ranked eighth in the MAAC, with a career-best six home runs and 23 RBI with 20 runs scored as a junior in 2014. For her career, she has accumulated a .318 (128-403) career batting average while also totaling 12 home runs and 60 RBI's in three seasons with the Bobcats.
SHE'S IN THE BOOKS
Paolucci batted .357 (45-126), which ranked sixth in the MAAC, as a junior while also ranking third in the MAAC in slugging percentage (.635). She also lead the team in home runs (9), RBI (26) and posted a team-leading .443 on-base percentage. Paolucci currently holds the program record for home runs in a season when she blasted 15 in 2011 while her 38 for her career also stand as a Quinnipiac record. She is also Quinnipiac's career RBI leader (124) and also holds the single-season record with 44 in 2013.
LUCKY 13
The Bobcats return 13 players from last year's squad, 10 of which are juniors or seniors. Barba and Paolucci headline a quartet of players that batted .300 or better while Quinnipiac also featuring seven players that saw action in 40 or more games last season.
ALL-AROUND SOLID
In addition to Barba and Paolucci junior Abby Johnson (Chelmsford, Massachusetts) and Courtney Solt (Boyertown, Pennsylvania) also batted over .300 in 2014, with Johnson checking in at .315 (40-127) while Solt hit at a .306 (38-124) clip. Johnson led the team in walks (23) and stolen bases (10) while Solt scored a team-high 27 runs.
DUAL THREAT
unior Sydney Robey (Glenmoore, Pennsylvania) led the team in doubles (10) while also totaling six home runs, 23 RBI and 21 runs scored. Robey also pitched a team-high 124 1/3 innings while leading the team in games started (19), complete games (7) and strikeouts (59).
WINNER WINNER
Hannah Lindsley (Narragansett, Rhode Island) logged 93 1/3 innings on the mound and led the team with six wins.
A LOT OF EXPERIENCE ON THIS SQUAD
In addition, Brittney Cyr (Southington, Connecticut), Molly Jarrett (Northport, New York), Keilani Finley (Alameda, California), Katie Strong (South Windsor, Connecticut) and DaniEdmands (Northborough, Massachusetts) all saw significant playing time last season
WELCOME ABOARD
Freshmen Emily Czaja (Palmer, Massachusetts), Casey Herzog (Wappingers Falls, New York), Miranda Magana (Santa Paula, California) and Maria Ascher (Little Canada, Minnesota) join the Bobcats for the 2015 season.
HEAD COACH JILL KARWOSKI
Jill Karwoski will guide Quinnipiac in her second season as the Bobcats head coach in the hopes of improving on a 2014 season that saw the Quinnipiac finish the year at 11-36 overall and 6-14 in the MAAC.
