Lady Govs softball to open season at Gardner-Webb Tournament

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Austin Peay State University’s softball team will open their 31st regular season schedule this Friday and Saturday, as they travel to Boling Springs, N.C., to participate in the Gardner-Webb University tournament.

The Lady Govs will face George Washington and tournament host Gardner-Webb at 12:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. (CT), respectively, on Friday, with rematches on Saturday scheduled for 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. (CT).

“I think everyone is kind of chomping at the bit ready to play,” Austin Peay coach Shane Showalter said. “For my taste, we haven’t had enough practice time – especially out on the field with some of the weather – but they (players) are anxious to play.

“We’re thankful that we were about to get out and compete a couple of times this weekend, because the weather on the days leading up to the tournament don’t look too good, so we’ll probably only be able to hit inside a couple of days before we leave.”

Austin Peay finished the 2015 season with an overall record of 9-37 — 5-22 mark in Ohio Valley Conference play — while George Washington had a record of 25-23 (7-14 in the Atlantic 10 Conference) and Gardner-Webb was 15-35 overall and 6-18 in the Big South Conference last season.

“I’ve been putting some scouting reports together on George Washington and Gardner-Webb and looking at those, and their stats, I do feel like they are a couple of teams that we should go up there and compete with,” Showalter said. “If we can come away kind of winning the series, so to speak, getting three out of the four it would be a great weekend for us.”

The Lady Govs return 14 letterwinners, including seven starters and five pitchers, among its 20-player roster – including four of its top five top hitters from 2015 and 100 percent of last years’ pitching.

“This group has a lot of experience and more than just in x’s and o’s or more than how to run, catch and hit,” Showalter said. “They know how I like things done and what we’re trying to accomplish.

“This is a strong senior class and they’ve done a great job guiding the team, especially the freshmen, in getting them to go in the right direction.”

All five of this year’s seniors were starters last year, led by three-year starting catcher Mel Pavel (.240 BA/0 HR/10 RBI) along with third baseman Niya Sparks (.319/7 HR/21 RBI), pitcher Natalie Ayala (5-15/5.19 ERA/34 K’s), first baseman Vinchenza DeBenedetto (.228/0 HR/6 RBI) and outfielder Courtney Brower (.212/0 HR/4 RBI).

The six-member junior class is the roster’s largest, led by returning starting outfielders Rikki Arkansas (.349/0 HR/5 RBI) and Chandler Groves (.287/4 HR/25 RBI), first baseman Christiana Gable (.244/8 HR/31 RBI) along with pitchers Allie Blackwood (1-4/1 Save/21 K’s), Sidney Hooper (2-12/9.30 ERA/25 K’s) and junior college transfer Autumn Hanners.

“The good thing about this group is that we have a good core of what I would say is my starters,” Showalter said. “But more importantly, we have some good depth and are strong in several areas.”

Leading its four-player sophomore class is second baseman Erica Inagaki (.163/0 HR/2 RBI), who split time starting at shortstop as a freshman; outfielder Savanna Oliver (.214/1 HR/4 RBI); catcher Alexis Hill (.107/0 HR/0 RBI) and pitcher Heather Norris (1-6/1 Save/20 K’s).

Rounding out the roster are five freshmen, including one redshirt freshman, outfielder Kacy Acree, who missed the 2015 season with a knee injury.

Acree is joined by true freshmen Kendall Vedder (Palmetto, Fla.), who is slated to be Austin Peay’s starting shortstop, third baseman Danielle Liermann (Simi Valley, Calif.) and utility players Carly Mattson (McHenry, Ill.) and Brea Dickson (Social Circle, Ga.).

“In the past, we’ve had a decent team, but not much depth if we ran into injuries,” Showalter said. “This group, in having some good upper classmen all the way through a solid freshmen class, I don’t think we’ll run into that (depth) problem.

“If we have a kid that’s struggling one weekend we have someone else we can plug in to get the job done. So I think we’re going to be a better team all the way around.”