Quinnipiac University
University of California Riverside
QU Softball Set for Wednesday's Doubleheader Against UC-Riverside
3/14/2017 2:21:00 PM | Softball
Quinnipiac University Bobcats (6-7, 0-0 MAAC) vs.
UC Riverside Highlanders (10-9, 0-0 Big West)
Date: March 15, 2017
Time: 11 A.M. Pacific (2 P.M. Eastern) & 1 A.M. Pacific (4 P.M. Eastern)
Location: Amy S. Harrison Softball Field - Riverside, California
CALIFORNIA LIVING
The Quinnipiac softball team will continue its spring break schedule of matchups in California, as the Bobcats will take on the University of California Riverside at the Amy S. Harrison Softball Field in a doubleheader on Wednesday, March 15.
SCOUTING THE HIGHLANDERS
The Highlanders are off to a 10-9 start to the season and have yet to play any games in Big West conference play. The team's offense is led by Hannah Rodriguez who boasts a .426 batting average through 18 games.
CSUN/LMU TOURNAMENT
Quinnipiac went 3-2 in its time at the CSUN/LMU Tournament held in Los Angeles and Northridge, California. The Bobcats opened play by defeating Bryant, 11-3 in the first game in five innings. Quinnipiac then fell to No. 5 Arizona, 7-1, but then bounced back to defeat the University of North Dakota, 3-2. The Bobcats split a doubleheader in the final day of competition, losing to Boise State, 25-12, before coming back to beat CSU Bakersfield, 3-1.
MAAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Sophomore third baseman and outfielder Rebecca Drake (Whiting, New Jersey) was named MAAC Softball Player of the Week as announced by the conference office on Tuesday, March 14.
Drake's stellar performance over the weekend helped Quinnipiac earn a 3-2 record over the weekend at the CSUN/LMU Tournament. This is the first weekly award of Drake's career and the third Quinnipiac player to take home a MAAC weekly award this season. Over the weekend, Drake went 8-16 with three of those hits being home runs, two of which were hit in Quinnipiac's 11-3 win over Bryant. Drake drove in five runs in five games and did not commit an error in any game.
Through the first 13 games of the season, Drake is batting .357 with a team-high four home runs and is also tied for the team lead in RBIs with 12.
MARVELOUS MAGANA
Miranda Magana (Santa Paula, California) has been one of the team's most consistent hitters so far this season. In 13 games, Magana has a team-leading .372 batting average and is tied for the team lead in RBIs with 12.
SETTLING IN
Junior transfers Keala Cordeiro (Huntington Beach, California) and Lexi Courtney (Scappoose, Oregon) both have made themselves right at home in the Bobcats' lineup so far this season. Cordeiro has a .268 batting average, but has one home run and six Rbi's on the season.
Courtney made her presence felt this past weekend with her play at the CSUN/LMU Tournament. Courtney went 1-for-4 in Quinnipiac's win over Bryant, where she scored twice and drove in a run. She went 1-for-3 in the Bobcats' contest against No. 5 Arizona and scored two runs in Quinnipiac's 3-2 win over North Dakota. In Quinnipiac's loss against Boise State, Courtney went 2-for-4, including a two-run home run in the sixth inning, her first in a Quinnipiac uniform. In Quinnipiac's late-game win over Bakersfield, Courtney singled in a run in the sixth inning to secure the Bobcat's 3-1 win.
THE LONG WAY
Freshman pitcher Abbey Long (Eau Claire, Wisconsin) made three starts over the weekend and went 1-1 over that span. In her start against No. 5 Arizona, Long went six innings, and gave up only four earned runs to a tough Wildcat lineup that averages nearly 8.5 runs per game. Long earned a no-decision in her start against North Dakota. In that game, Long went five innings while only giving up two runs. In her final start over the weekend, Long pitched a complete-game gem against CSU Bakersfield. In seven innings of work, Long gave up one run on only four hits (all singles) while striking out six.
THE MAAC PRESEASON POLL
The Quinnipiac University softball team was picked to finish sixth in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll, as announced by the conference office on Monday, Jan. 30, 2017.
BOBCAT RETURNEES
Quinnipiac returns 11 players from last year's squad, seven of which are juniors or seniors. In addition the Bobcats will look to a strong core of four sophomores who each played in at least 40 games including Taylor Troyan (Boca Raton, Florida) and Erin Larsen (Kissimmee, Florida) seeing time in more than 40 games. Troyan led the team in batting average (.301), slugging percentage (.466) and second in home runs (2).
VETS IN THE BOX
The Bobcats return three of the four players that led the team in hits in Sarah Heimbach (Greenwich, New York), Keilani Finley (Alameda, California) and Magana. Magana led the team in hits (46), doubles (9), second in batting average (.282) and in total bases (57). Heimbach led the team in on-base percentage (.390), second in stolen bases (5) and runs (21). Finley led the team in home runs (4), triples (2), RBI's (22) and total bases (63).
WELCOME ABOARD
Five new players join the Bobcats in three freshman, Rachel Marchuk (San Ramon, California), Megan Dyson (Bellmawr, New Jersey) and Long, as well as two junior transfers, Courtney and Cordeiro.
HAMDEN ADVANTAGE
Last season, the Bobcats registered an 11-9 home record at the QU Softball Field.
HEAD COACH JILL KARWOSKI
Head coach Jill Karwoski will guide Quinnipiac in her fourth season at the helm in the hopes of improving on a 2016 season that saw Quinnipiac finish the year at 28-29 overall, which was 10 wins better than the 18 wins the team earned in 2015.
ON DECK
After the doubleheader against UC Riverside, the Bobcats will be back in action this weekend, as it takes part in the Cal State Northridge Tournament, where Quinnipiac will take on the university of Northern Colorado, Bryant University, Weber State, Murray State and California State Northridge.
