WEEK 8: IOWA STATE SERIES • GAMES 35-37 BUILDING THAT RPI Part of Tech’s success over the last two seasons in getting to a NCAA Regional has stemmed from its difficult regular season schedule. Tech played six non-conference teams last year that made the postseason and is set to face seven this year with three of those games taking place at the Kajikawa Classic. The Red Raiders dropped San Diego State, 5-4, before falling to both No. 14 Tennessee and No. 9 Stanford, who both earned national seeds a year ago. Tech faced three more regional squads from a year ago last weekend as Long Beach State, Portland State, and DePaul all made the postseason in 2011. RED RAIDERS FACE QUALITY ARMS IN ARIZONA If there was one certainty from Tech’s opening weekend at the Kajikawa Classic, it was that Tech faced two of the country’s top pitchers in Tennessee’s Ellen Renfro and Stanford’s Teagan Gerhart. The duo combined to hold Tech to just one run which came off a Mikey Kenney solo home run in the second inning off the Cardinal. Renfro was the SEC Freshman of the Year last season after compiling a 26-7 record, while Gerhart earned All-Pac 12 first team honors after going 26-13 in the circle. TECH PICKS UP VOTES IN PRESEASON POLLS For the second-straight season, Texas Tech started the season receiving votes in both the USA Today/NFCA and the ESPN/USA Softball preseason polls. The Red Raiders picked up five votes in the NFCA poll and then six in the ESPN rankings. One of seven Big 12 schools appearing in the polls, Tech will face a total of 14 teams this season that are ranked or receiving votes in the preseason rankings. RED RAIDERS FACE CHALLENGE IN THE DESERT The Red Raiders had a tough task at hand at the Kajikawa Classic as four of their five opponents were ranked or receiving votes in the preseason rankings. Stanford led the pack after being ranked No. 9 by the NFCA and No. 10 by ESPN.com, while Tennessee is No. 14 in the NFCA poll and No. 9 in the ESPN rankings. San Diego State was receiving votes in both polls while Northwestern picked up two votes in the ESPN rankings. Tennessee, Stanford, and San Diego State were all selected to a NCAA Regional last year with the Lady Vols and Cardinal eventually advancing to the Super Regionals. RED RAIDERS RETURN 15 PLAYERS FROM 2011 With 15 returners back from its 2011 squad, Tech could be primed for another breakout season in 2012. Of those 15 returners, eight were position starters a year ago while Tech’s top two pitchers, senior Kelsey Dennis and sophomore Brittany Talley, also return in the circle. The Red Raiders had no seniors on their roster last year when Tech finished 42-16 overall after falling to Arizona in the finale of the NCAA Tucson Regional. TAKING THE NEXT STEP Immediately following Tech’s season-ending loss to Arizona in the NCAA Tucson Regional, head coach Shanon Hays had one message for his young team - to take the next step in 2012. Advancing to the postseason would no longer just be the goal. Knowing the majority of that squad would return this year, he challenged the group to win a regional this season, a feat that has not been accomplished in school history. The Red Raiders have fallen in the regional finale in each of the last two seasons. TECH BOASTS A RECORD EIGHT SENIORS After only having a total of two seniors on the roster during his first two seasons, Shanon Hays will have a senior-laden squad for the first time as eight seniors return for their final season in scarlet and black. No Tech team had previously boasted more than six seniors on its roster since softball returned as an intercollegiate sport in 1996. The only two seniors in Hays’ tenure were in 2010 when Ashly Jacobs and Leah Legler completed their eligibility. Both are still associated with the program this season with Jacobs filling the role of graduate student manager and Legler as the volunteer assistant coach. TECH RETURNS ONE OF NATION’S TOP LINEUPS The majority of last year’s lineup that hit .361 and ranked fourth nationally in both batting average and scoring average returns this season as the Red Raiders bring back eight position starters from a year ago. Tech set the Big 12 Conference record last year with its .361 batting average as seven regulars in the lineup hit .300 or better during the season. Raven Richardson led all hitters with a .384 mark followed closely behind by Emily Bledsoe and her .383 average.
BLEDSOE NAMED TO PRESEASON WATCH LIST Senior Emily Bledsoe was named to the USA Softball Player of the Year Watch List prior to the season, joining 49 players nationwide including 10 from the Big 12 Conference. Bledsoe, a Fulshear, Texas native, hit a career-high .383 as a junior and is already a fixture in the school’s record book. She is the first Tech player to be named to any preseason watch list in school history. TECH HITS THE ROAD FOR NON-CONFERENCE After playing the majority of non-conference games at home the past two seasons, the Red Raiders will be hitting the road more often this year with four nonconference tournaments away from Lubbock. Following Tech’s trip to Tempe to open the season the Red Raiders will travel to Las Vegas (Feb. 17-19) for the Louisville Slugger Desert Classic, Waco (Feb. 24-26) for the Texas Shootout, and South Orange, N.J. (March 16-18) for the Seton Hall Classic. HAYS LOOKS TO CUSTER FOR BOOST IN CIRCLE When pitching coach Aly Sartini was out recruiting the Las Vegas area in the summer of 2010, she sat in by chance on the Washington Lady Hawks travel team where this young right-hander with great velocity and good movement was retiring hitters left and right. Sartini along with Shanon Hays immediately began recruiting that right-hander, current freshman Cara Custer, early and secured her commitment before several of the top programs across the country came calling. Now, the Tech coaching staff is expecting the Spanaway, Wash. native to be a dominating presence in the circle for a Tech pitching staff that had a 3.50 ERA a year ago. RED RAIDERS ADD JUCO CATCHER OF THE YEAR Tech continued to add hitters in the offseason with the signing of two-time California JUCO Catcher of the Year Adriana Perez. One of the top junior college prospects in the country last year, Perez is expected to bolster an already-deep catcher staff that consists of seniors Holley Gentsch and Cydney Allen along with junior Randi Tongate. Perez hit over .500 in each of her two seasons at Antelope Valley College in California, totaling 31 home runs and 117 RBI during that two year stretch. RYBA RETURNS TO DIAMOND AFTER YEAR OFF Melisa Ryba will be returning to the softball diamond for the first time since the 2010 season this weekend as the redshirt junior sat out the 2011 season due to NCAA transfer rules. Ryba, who could play varies positions for Tech, transferred from Northern Colorado after hitting .323 as a sophomore with seven home runs and 32 RBI. She was named an All-Independent Co-Freshman of the Year in 2009 before Northern Colorado joined the Pacific Coast Softball Conference in 2010 when she was a second team PCSC All-Mountain selection. BIG 12 PLAY TURNS TO THREE-GAME SERIES For the first time in Big 12 history, all conference series will be three games each. The league had previously gone with a two-game format and a postseason conference tournament until the 2011 season when the tournament was cut. There will be a total of 24 conference games, six more than the 2010 season. With the departure of Nebraska, the league is a nine-team conference as Kansas State does not sponsor softball. TECH PICKED 7TH IN BIG 12 PRESEASON POLL Even with lofty expectations and the majority of its 2011 squad back for another season, Texas Tech was picked seventh in the Big 12 preseason poll of conference coaches. The league is coming off a record year where eight teams (of 10) advanced to the postseason with four of those eventually composing the eightteam Women’s College World Series. Missouri was the preseason favorite to take the league title followed by Oklahoma and then Texas. Team (first-place votes) Points 1. Missouri (3) 59 2. Oklahoma (4) 56 3. Texas (1) 50 4. Baylor 45 5. Texas A&M 37 6. Oklahoma State 32 7. Texas Tech 22 8. Kansas 13 9. Iowa State 10
2012 TEXAS TECH SOFTBALL
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