The University of Memphis softball team kicked off its 2019 season last weekend. The team traveled to Miami to take on Florida International, Michigan State, and Bryant in the FIU Invitational tournament. The Tigers won two of their five games, beating Michigan State and Bryant.
After losing in the second round of the AAC championship last season in a close gameagainst the No. 1 seed, USF, the team is hoping to do better this year. The Tigers have been improving their record over the last three seasons, finishing last year with a winning record of 32-21.
Memphis coach Natalie Poole, the head coach of the Tigers, says she feels pretty good about her team this season, “I feel like we have been working hard every day on things that will be factors when we get into competition,” Poole said.
This will be Poole’s eighth season coaching the Tigers. She says her players are prepared for any challenges they may face this season and she wants the Tigers to add on to their streak of winning records. Despite the team being younger than it was in previous seasons Poole says the team could advance farther into the post season than last year.
The softball team is younger this year with nine freshmen. Senior first baseman Ashley Threatt, who plays first base for the Tigers, says she is particularly excited about a duo of freshmen outfielders, Gracie Morton and Hannah Bassham.
“We have a lot of newbies and I think they’ll see a lot of playing time” said Threatt.
The Tigers will need some players to step up this season if they want to fill in the holes that veterans Molly Smithand Kyler Trosclairleft in the team after graduating in 2018.
Smith was the team’s ace pitcher last season. She left Memphis as the winningest pitcher in school history recording two complete no hitters and securing Second-Team All-Conference mention.
Trosclair ended her career at Memphis as the all-time program leader in hits. She was also named Second Team All-American Athletic Conference. Poole said she has some players who can fill the holes left by these athletes.
“I have a few freshmen that did a really nice job last year and I expect them to return and compete well,” Poole said. “I think you’ll see that in addition to some kids that have been working on their growth.”
Poole said she also excited about the new freshmen on the team, who she said will be fun to watch this season.
Despite recent non-conference successes, the Tigers still struggle when it comes to the AAC foes. In the last three seasons, Memphis has posted a losing conference record.
The softball team has had issue in the past few seasons beating their conference rivals. The team has gone 7-11 against in-conference teams twice in the last three seasons. The American Athletic Conferenceis ranked number four in the nation in terms of strength. Threatt says that the AAC is a tough conference to play in. Half of the teams in the conference were ranked last season and four of them went into the post-season.
“We have a really competitive conference, it’s anybody’s game on anybody’s day.” Jessie Lamb, a senior outfielder for the Tigers, also attributes the team’s in-conference struggles to the competiveness of the teams, “We have a really good conference, everybody is always trying to win as much as they can.”
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