The team will open the season next weekend at the Red Desert Classic in St. George, Utah on Feb. 8-10. They will face BYU, Oklahoma State, Southern Utah, Utah, and Weber State this first weekend. They will then face UNLV, Utah, UCLA, Louisiana Monroe, and Oregon State at the Louisville Slugger Desert Classic in Las Vegas the following weekend, Feb. 14-17.
“In the first two weeks, we play four Pac-12 games,” said head coach Dan Powers. “We play Utah, UCLA, Washington, and Oregon State, and we play Oregon at the end of the year. So we’re playing almost half the Pac-12 in our non-conference schedule, which should prep us very well for the WAC Tournament and conference play. We also play BYU and Oklahoma State, as well, early in the season. We have our work cut out for us.”
The Redhawks host Northwest University for a doubleheader on Feb. 23 before officially opening the field under the lights vs. Washington on Feb. 27.
“We’re excited to host a top-20 team at our place for the first time in history. The field has played well all fall and winter, and under the lights should be a very exciting event for fans.”
The UC Santa Barbara Invitational will kick off the month of March, as the Redhawks will face South Dakota State and UCSB on Mar. 1-3, before returning home to host Ohio and Bradley on Mar. 7.
The Redhawks will remain close to home for the UW Spring Classic on Mar. 8-10 as they face New Mexico, Ohio, Yale, and Washington during the cross-town tournament. Yale will remain in town for a doubleheader at Logan Field on Mar. 12.
SU will play two games each vs. Loyola Marymount and Cal State Northridge at the Cal State Northridge Invitational on Mar. 16-17 before beginning conference play. They will also play two non-conference doubleheaders in the middle of their conference schedule, vs. Portland State on Apr. 10 and at Oregon on May 1.
In WAC play, the Redhawks, who were picked to finish eighth in the conference, will host Texas State (Mar. 29-30), Utah State (Apr. 12-13), and Louisiana Tech (May 3-4), and will travel to face UT Arlington (Mar. 22-23), San Jose State (Apr. 5-6), UTSA (Apr. 19-20), and New Mexico State (Apr. 26-27). Texas State was chosen as the preseason No. 1 by the WAC’s eight softball head coaches.
“Playing Texas State at home, for us, is huge. As far as the rest of the teams go, we split with UTSA last season, and we’ve played Utah State once and it was a one run game. We have not yet played New Mexico State, UT Arlington, or Louisiana Tech. It’s a clean slate and there is only one true favorite. Everybody else is pretty close and it’s going to be a fight to the finish.”
The Redhawks are also excited to play their first regular season on their newly renovated home field, Logan Field at Seattle University Park, which underwent a significant transformation during spring and summer 2012. They have been able to practice earlier and more frequently outside on their home field this season, and broke in their new home with an Alumni Game during fall 2012.
“With the travel that we’re doing for conference this year, having more home games is critical. We don’t want to be on the road 85 percent of the time, which could have been the case if we didn’t have the new Logan Field this year. We’ve got a full schedule at 55 games this season, I believe we’re playing almost 20 games at home, and that’s the most we’ve ever had since I’ve been there.”
Several of last year’s leaders, including Sarah Petosa (Federal Way, Wash.), Bubba Morrow (Auburn, Wash.), Allegra Wilde (Kennewick, Wash.) , and Jenny Hurst (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) have even improved over the off-season and will continue to provide crucial leadership for the team. Petosa led the Redhawks in hitting (.365), starting 44 of 45 games, as well as total hits (54). Morrow led the team with six home runs and 31 RBIs as a freshman in 2012, and won the starting catcher role early in the season, starting all 45 games.
Petosa and Morrow were also named to the 2013 Preseason Softball All-WAC team, as decided by the conference’s eight head coaches.
“Bubba has taken more of a leadership role behind the plate. With her freshman year under her belt, she has more confidence. She threw out every runner that tried to run on her during the fall. Sarah is getting better every day, her confidence shows in her swing, and she’s starting to lead more in the outfield. Allegra, as a senior, wants to go out on top. She’s kind of the vocal leader in the infield. Allegra and Jenny give us a great double play combo, as well as the best range up the middle we've had in years.”
Coach Powers also highlighted a few players who have significantly improved during the summer and fall and will become more crucial to the team’s success in 2013. One of these, Lisa Maulden (Maple Valley, Wash.), led the team in runs (21) and finished second in RBIs (20) as a freshman last season.
“Brianna Guerrero (Buena Park, Calif.) put in a lot of work in the offseason in the weight room and it’s already showing. She’s hitting with a lot more power than she has in the past and we’re expecting big numbers from her. Lisa and Erin Crowley (Kent, Wash.) are also looking much better. We were really excited about our sophomore class when we recruited them a couple years ago, but they’re starting to come into their own, and are becoming a very solid foundation for our team in the future.”
“I also think Richelle Ashburn (Post Falls, Idaho) has been overlooked, because her stats haven’t always been great, but she’s thrown some great games in the past against some very good teams. I think she’s going to get double digit wins this year.”
Brittney Lott (Tacoma, Wash.), Hayley Beckstrom (Maple Valley, Wash.), and Isabella Geronimo (San Mateo, Calif.) join the team this season as freshman, and the coaching staff is confident they will compete for playing time almost immediately.
“All three of the freshmen are competing and I wouldn’t be surprised if they got early playing time this season. Brittney is pushing Lisa and it’s been a good competition all fall and winter. Isabella has come back after missing the entire fall with a concussion, and is close to starting very soon. We moved Haley from middle infield to catcher, because we had that need, and she’s hitting the ball a ton. All three will help our team this year.”
The Redhawks will face three ESPN/USA Softball preseason top-20 teams this season, as well as three others who are receiving votes in the preseason poll. With a new conference and a new field, 2013 will prove to be an exciting year in Seattle U softball. Powers puts it simply, “They’re all ready to go and so are we.”
2013 WAC Preseason Softball Coaches Poll
| Rank | Teams (First Place Votes) |
Points |
| 1 | Texas State (5) | 43 |
| 2 | San Jose State (2) |
42 |
| 3 | New Mexico State (1) |
39 |
| 4 | UTSA | 30 |
| 5 | Louisiana Tech |
22 |
| 6 | Utah State |
20 |
| 7 | UT Arlington |
15 |
| 8 | Seattle U |
13 |
2013 Preseason Softball All-WAC Team
| Player | School | Year | Position |
| Nina Villanueva |
UT Arlington | So. | 1B |
| Christine Thomsen |
Utah St. |
Sr. | IF |
| Anne Marie Taylor |
Texas St. |
Sr. | P |
| Haylee Staton |
UTSA | Sr. | P |
| Amanda Pridmore |
San Jose St. | Sr. | P |
| Sarah Petosa |
Seattle U | Jr. | OF |
| Amber Olive |
New Mexico St. |
Sr. | OF |
| Bubba Morrow |
Seattle U |
So. | C |
| Teri Lyles |
UT Arlington | Sr. | P |
| Megan Low |
UTSA | So. | C |
| Michelle Jones |
Louisiana Tech | Sr. | P/UT |
| Anna Hernandez |
Texas St. | Sr. | 2B |
| Melanie Goff |
Louisiana Tech |
Sr. | P/UT |
| Hailey Froton |
Utah St. | So. | OF |
| Michelle Cox |
San Jose St. |
So. | OF |
| Teresa Conrad | New Mexico St. | Sr. | UT |