Date: 1/25
Position: Outfielders

Returning Letterwinners (Key stats): Haleigh Lane, Jr. (51 GP, .315 avg, 47 hits, 27 runs, 6 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 26 RBI, 58 tb), Haleigh Lowe, So. (32 GP, .330 avg, 30 hits, 14 runs, 6 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 28 RBI, 41 tb, .451 slg%, .460 ob%, 1.000 fld%), Amanda Minahan, Sr. (35 GP, .265 avg, 27 hits, 18 runs, 6 2B, 1 3B, 5 HR, 23 RBI, 50 tb, .490 slg%), Dayla Gulledge, So. (30 GP, .239 avg, 16 hits, 12 runs, 5 2B, 3 HR, 16 RBI, 30 tb, .448 slg%, .409 ob%), Meghan Harris, So. (36 GP, .148 avg, 9 hits, 11 runs, 5 RBI, 9 tb, 2-2 sb-att), MC Nichols, R-Fr. (Redshirted 2016 season).

Letterwinners lost (Key stats): Stephanie Pilkington (51 GP, .306 avg, 45 hits, 28 runs, 11 2B, 2 HR, 34 HR, 62 tb, .422 slg%, .406 ob%, .997 fld%), Tucker Caraway (28 GP, .063 avg, 1 hit, 6 runs, 1 2B, 2 tb), Ashtiny Cook (DNP).

Newcomers (Yr., Previous school): None.

Miscellaneous Notes
- Haleigh Lane and Haleigh Lowe both earned second-team all-Sun Belt Conference honors during the 2016 season.
- Both Amanda Minahan (35) and Lowe (32) started every game in which they played in a season ago, only missing time due to injury.
- Lowe missed the final nine games of the season due to a hand injury.
- Both Lowe (.330) and Lane (.305) batted over .300 last season.  The trio of Minahan, Lane and Lowe combined to record 108 hits, 18 doubles, seven home runs and 77 RBI.
- Dayla Gulledge saw time last season at the designated player position, but moved to the outfield during the fall.
- MC Nichols redshirted a year ago during her freshman season.

Head Coach Becky Clark
-On the experience that senior outfielder Amanda Minahan brings to the position and what her leadership means: "Out of our entire roster Minnie [Amanda Minahan] has the most NCAA postseason experience having played in the Tuscaloosa Regional her freshman year and Auburn Regional her sophomore year.  She was also a part of our conference tournament championship in 2015, so she knows what it takes to beat good teams and compete at a high level.  She has hands on knowledge of how rewarding it is to put in the work and then experience the fun of winning championships and playing in post-season.  That experience is invaluable because it is not something you can re-create in practice"

-On where she feels Haleigh Lowe and Haleigh Lane made the most improvement last season and where has she seen them grow since the end of the 2016 season: "Both [Haleigh] Lowe and {Haleigh] Lane are incredibly competitive players and both are very capable of performing at a high level.  I think if you ask both of them they would say last year was somewhat frustrating for them because both fought through injuries for most of the season.  I think the biggest change you will see from them is they are both healthy and are physically able to perform at their best.  I am excited for both players because I believe they are incredibly gifted and both have the ability to be impact players for their team"

-On the depth of the outfield position: "Our outfield is definitely the deepest it has been and will provide not just great defense for us but there is a tremendous amount of offense out there.  I anticipate the top and middle half of our lineup to consist heavily of outfielders; they have the potential to at least.  Competition is a wonderful thing and makes everyone better so they push each other to be their best.  At the end of the day, they all have the potential to contribute and I look forward to their collective contribution to our team."

-On the progression of the newcomers in the outfield through the fall and who she looks to for contributions this season: "Having MC Nichols healthy and back after a medical redshirt last year has been a definite plus.  Her speed allows her to cover a lot of ground and also has the potential to be a major factor for us offensively.  We missed having her healthy last year so it is great to have her back. Megan Harris has taken a huge step forward.  It is always hard transferring into a new program at the Christmas break, but she fought through that and has been much more consistent this fall both mentally and physically.  Dayla Gulledge split time in the fall between right field and catching in an effort to give her another opportunity to get her bat in the lineup.  I think all three have a chance to contribute in a big way this spring."

Senior Amanda Minahan
-On what her goals are for herself and the outfield unit in her senior season: "Individually, I want to maintain my aggressiveness and just be a competitor out on the field; I want to go out every day and act as if it's my last on the field.  I want to always give 110%.

"As a group, the outfield wants to stay aggressive and just let everyone on our team trust us.  If there's a ball hit in the gap, we want our pitchers to know that she can give that up because we are going to find a way to get an out out of it.  We want our pitchers to not put too much pressure on themselves, because they know they have a strong defense behind them.  We've worked on our diving for balls and making plays in practice.  We want to do big things this season.  

"Offensively, the hitters have been working on attacking the mental side of the game and I really think we are figuring that out.  Even when you're down in a count, we want to still be aggressive and fight to get a hit.  I'm really looking forward to seeing how we are on offense this season."

-On what she sees as her role on this team: "I definitely feel that I have a leadership role on this team which comes with being a senior.  Having been here four years, I've been able to see what a winning team is like and I really want to apply what I learned from our seniors during my freshman season.  I want to be able to lead them like I was led because we have a young team.  Only having two seniors on our team, it's sometimes hard showing the younger players what it takes to be a postseason team, but I want to take the leadership that I learned from players like Kaitlyn Griffith, Julie Moss and Hannah Campbell and show the younger players what they showed me.  

"I just want to lead by example and always be aggressive and go hard.  I want to be the 'Energizer Bunny' of our team.  I try to always make sure that I am excited and not let myself get down, because attitude is contagious.  I want to always be the upbeat one and pass that along to others."

-On returning two all-conference players in this group in Haleigh Lane and Haleigh Lowe and the outfield group as a whole: "We have a great group in the outfield; everyone out there is a returner, so we've all seen it and been through it.  Injuries happen, so even if we have one, I have faith in our unit that we want miss a beat with whoever we have out on the field.  I'm really confident in our group.

Both Haleigh Lane and Haleigh Lowe had great seasons last year and they are on top of it this season.  We also have MC Nichols who returns after being injured last season and I'm really excited to see her get on the field.  She and Kaleigh Todd will be the slappers at the one and two positions in our lineup, so I'm excited to see them."

-On what she has seen out of Dayla Gulledge and Megan Harris so far: "Dayla [Gulledge] has had a great attitude as she makes the transition to the outfield.  She was a catcher/infielder for us last season and was moved to the outfield this fall, which is similar to what I did during my freshman year.  I know what she's going through, but we've put her under our wings and she's really showed us that she deserves a spot out there.  She and Megan Harris have both been working hard.  It's going to be a tough decision for coach [Becky Clark] on who is playing because of our depth."

-On the development of the group during the fall: "I would say that we've grown a lot since the start of the fall.  MC wasn't able to really practice with us a lot last season because of her injury.  She's been switching with me out in center and she's looked great.  Megan Harris has also looked good.  She came to us last spring, so this is her first full year with us and she has looked great as well."

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