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SPORTS
| february 17, 2004
Softball Preview
Keeping the Title
Coach Debbie Hedrick says old
and new players will have to step up to repeat as Southland Conference
champions
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| The Shorthorn: File art |
Junior outfielder April Jones
gets ready to run to second base as Louisiana Cardinal
Ashley Bellew
prepares to pitch Sunday afternoon at the Allan Saxe Field.
The Lady Mavs lost after 10 innings 3-2. |
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By Dusting
Eberhart
The Shorthorn Staff
Last season, softball coach Debbie Hedrick brought in 10 freshmen
who evolved into the base of a solid softball program that won its
first-ever Southland Conference tournament title in 2003.
Hedrick ushered in another class of freshmen this season in hopes
of a repeat title, but she knows it won’t be easy. Although
this year’s freshmen are talented, they will be tested and
expected to step up to claim another conference title, she said.
“I’m excited for them, and we have a lot of experience
back on the field, which hopefully can bring the freshmen along,”
said Hedrick, who is in her eighth year as UTA’s coach. “But
they’re going to have to play like sophomores this year in
order for us to succeed.”
Six players out of last year’s freshmen are on the roster,
including Falon Kwasnick, whose versatility could be key this season.
Kwasnick, a 5-6 infielder from Grand Prairie, was named second-team
all conference in her debut season as a Lady Mav. After hitting
.333 and being named to the all-tournament team in the Crimson Classic
last year, Kwasnick received Hitter of the Week honors for the two-day
tournament. As a lead-off batter she hit .311 and led the team in
hits with 57, runs scored with 42 and doubles with 14. She was also
the only Lady Maverick who appeared in all 58 games while starting
57 of them, mostly at first base.
Kwasnick’s role on the team will undergo a slight change as
she will share pitching responsibility with sophomore Jill Garro
and freshman Lauren Hebert, two of the team’s primary pitchers.
Joining Kwasnick as an All-Southland Conference
teammate is sophomore Autumn Petrino, who could be the most memorable
Lady Mav from last season with her performance in the Southland
Conference Tournament. With two outs in the game, Petrino hit a
game-winning, walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the seventh inning
against Nicholls State to send the Lady Mavericks to the championship
game. She received honorable mention in the conference and was selected
to the SLC all-tournament team. In the 55 games Petrino appeared
in she held a .272 batting average with 10 doubles, three triples
and four home runs, a team-high shared with sophomore Jenna Fortune.
Besides her few appearances as pitcher, Petrino spent most of her
time in right-field, where she will play this season.
Petrino is confident in the team but believes the freshmen’s
maturity is key in the Lady Mavs’ success.
“If the freshmen step in and do well, then we will win,”
she said. “But what’s really going to get us through
is to have a strong and consistent hitting lineup. Strength-wise,
we have a great defense and great pitching.”
Junior outfielder April Jones, the team’s lone upperclassman,
believes her role isn’t to guide her teammates, but to be
there as a friend.
“My main focus is trying to keep things the same as what other
upperclassmen have done in the past,” Jones said. “I’m
not necessarily going to guide them, because they know how softball
works and how to play the game, but more of being a friend, someone
they can talk to.”
Jones said she has confidence the team will come around despite
such a young lineup.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that, when we start conference,
every single person on the team is going to step up,” she
said.
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