Coming off a record-breaking year in 2007, the Saint Louis University softball team will return to the dirt this weekend in Hammond, La., for the Lion Classic.
Featured teams in the tournament are Tennessee-Martin, Jackson State, Southeastern Louisiana, Grambling State and Mississippi Valley State.
Last season, the Billikens set more than a dozen team records, including number of wins in a season, hits, home runs, strikeouts and putouts. Softball coach John Conway said that his team is prepared to build on that success in 2008 and cement their place in the top end of the Atlantic 10 Conference.
“We’re looking to finish in the top three again this year, and, once we get to the tournament, who knows where things could go,” Conway said. “Look at the run we made last year.”
As the third seed in last year’s conference tournament, SLU rallied in the postseason with victories against George Washington and Charlotte, before a thrilling come-from-behind win over No. 2 Fordham University in the semifinals. Top-seeded University of Massachusetts ended the Bills’ run in the championship match.
Team captains this year, seniors Lorena Floccari and Jody Herbert and sophomores Nicki Jost and Ashley Levan, all said they hope to see similar success this season.
“We want to beat UMass,” Jost said. “That’s one of our main goals for the season.”
Jost enjoyed a very successful freshman campaign, setting a school record for games played with 62. She was also a member of the A-10 All-Rookie team after batting .285 and 28 RBIs.
This year’s squad features just six upperclassmen compared to the team’s 14 underclassmen.
“We’re a young team,” Conway said. “We’ve got 10 new players, but we’re more athletic, stronger and faster this year. We don’t have the experience, and we lost four good seniors, so we’re going to need someone to step up.”
Conway said he looks at the team’s first games this weekend as a preseason, after spending the winter practicing indoors. Playing outside poses challenges that the team cannot simulate playing inside, such as the ball taking bad hops or the wind.
In addition to beating UMass, the team hopes to top 30 wins, as well as make another deep, postseason run for the A-10 Championship.
“We’re dealing with a lot of injuries right now, but we’re battling through it,” Herbert said. “We just need to stay strong and keep a positive attitude. We’ve been looking good at practice, and we have high expectations for ourselves. We’re going to go down there and get some victories.”
The Billikens will try to snap a string of five straight losses in season openers when they take on UT-Martin on Saturday, Feb. 16. SLU has gone just 2-8 in its last 10 season openers.
