Take me out to the ballgame...: Softball preview

Eastern's women's softball team started the season off slow with four straight losses in the Campus Suites Spartan Classes hosted by the University of South Carolina Upstate.The Colonels dropped the first game in eight innings to Liberty University. Senior Jena Handley went 3-for-5 with six RBIs in the 12-11 loss.

Eastern then dropped their next three games over the next two days. They fell 5-3 to Maryland-Baltimore County, 9-1 in six innings to South Carolina Upstate, and 3-2 in the consolation game against Liberty.

Handley was named to the all tournament team after batting .333 with seven RBIs.

The Colonels will go back to South Carolina next weekend to play in the Kickin' Chicken Classic hosted by Costal Carolina. Eastern will play Jacksonville on Friday at 11 a.m., and Canisius at 1:45 p.m.

The 2010 Colonels look to return to the top of the OVC after a disappointing season last year. Eastern went 17-27 overall with an 8-13 record in the OVC under Head Coach Jane Worthington.

Last year marked only the third time in school history that the Colonels suffered a conference losing season. The squad also missed the OVC tournament for the first time ever.

Eastern returns five position players, the starting designated hitter and two pitchers from the 17 win team of last season. Three other players return along with eight newcomers.

The Colonels used a new training regimen this off-season to be better prepared for a long, grueling season. The coaches used a little thing called CrossFit. CrossFit is the principle strength and conditioning program for many police academies and tactical operations team, military special operations units, champion martial artists and hundreds of other elite and professional athlete worldwide.

"The change in our strength system has helped our team get stronger and mentally tougher," Worthington said.

A key returner for the Colonels is third baseman Shyenne Hussey. Hussey is a three-time All-OVC selection. She led the team with a .349 batting average and had the second highest on-base percentage with at .471 in the OVC. Hussey hit six home runs and drove in 29 runs.

"This off-season I worked out to stay in shape and stay on top of my game," Hussey said. "I just trained as much as I could so I can take it to the next level, we are CrossFit strong."

Another returner is sophomore infielder Larkyn Wood. Wood started 28 games last season for Eastern. She batted .231 and scored 10 runs in her freshman campaign.

Sophomore Diane Gallagher returns to the outfield after earning first team all-conference and All-Newcomer team honors as a freshman. Gallagher stole 24 bases and was not thrown out attempting to steal all season. She was ranked 27th nationally with an average of 0.55 stolen bases per game.

Junior Cassi Gibson and freshman Aimee Soathias will join Gallagher in the outfield. Gibson hit .280 and led the team with 30 runs. She brings back experience by starting all 44 games last season. Spathais batted .351 and scored 24 runs as a high-school senior last season.

Jena Handley is back once again to start at catcher for the Colonels. Handley is a three-year starter that batted .284 with three home runs, 18 RBIs and 17 runs last season.

Junior Stacye Toups and sophomore Brittany Mockbee return as pitchers for Eastern. Toups went 4-10 with a 4.60 ERA last season while Mockabee made 18 appearances and went 1-7 with a 4.27 ERA.

The Colonels added a couple pitchers to the rotation for 2010.

Noelani Esperas earned first team All-America honors and was selected first team All-Arizona Community College Athletic Conference at Eastern Arizona College last season. She went 27-6 with a 1.40 ERA.

Eastern also added freshmen Mea Flores and Kristin Perry. Flores posted a 0.86 ERA and struck out 148 batters in her senior season.

Perry tallied more than 1,200 strikeouts over her high school career.