MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama softball team will open up the 2019 season this weekend when the Jaguars compete at the Sand Dollar Classic held at the Gulf Shores Sportsplex.

Tournament Notes (PDF)

GAMES: 1 – 4 | SAND DOLLAR CLASSIC
Feb. 8-10, 2019 | Gulf Shores, Ala. | Gulf Shores Sportsplex
Gm 1 – Friday – vs. Missouri State – 5 p.m.    
Gm 2 – Saturday – vs. Tennessee State – 11 a.m.
Gm 3 – Saturday – vs. Louisiana Tech – 2 p.m.
Gm 4 – Sunday – vs. Western Kentucky – 10 am.
    
GAME INFORMATION
Television: None
Radio: 99.5 The Jag FM (Fri. vs. Missouri State and Sun. vs. Western Kentucky)
Live Stats: www.USAJaguars.com
Live Stream: None
(In-Game Updates) Twitter: @WeAreSouth_SB

South Alabama JAGUARS
Record: 0-0, 0-0 SBC
Team Slash (AVG / SLG / OBP): .254 / .365 / .335

Missouri State BEARS
Record: 0-0, 0-0 MVC
Team Slash (AVG / SLG / OBP): .272 / .375 / .336

Tennessee State TIGERS
Record: 0-0, 0-0 OVC
Team Slash (AVG / SLG / OBP): .199 / .263 / .284

Louisiana Tech BULLDOGS
Record: 0-0, 0-0 CUSA
Team Slash (AVG / SLG / OBP): .275 / .391 / .377

Western Kentucky HILLTOPPERS
Record: 0-0, 0-0 CUSA
Team Slash (AVG / SLG / OBP): .278 / .434 / .367

* Stats from 2018 season.

SCOUTING THE JAGUARS    
– South Alabama (0-0, 0-0 SBC) enters the 2019 season after recording a 29-27 record last season.
– The Jaguars were picked sixth in the Sun Belt's preseason poll last month and return 12 letterwinners, four position starters and two pitchers from a year ago, while welcoming seven newcomers.
– South will have to replace first-team all-conference performers Devin Brown and Kaleigh Todd, as well as Kristen Foster who's 28 RBI were tied for second most on the club in 2018.
– Among the returning letterwinners are junior outfielder Brittani Reid (.296) who led the club in total bases (85), extra-base hits (19) and slugging percentage (.535).
– Of her 19 extra-base hits she had eight doubles and eight home runs in addition to three triples.
– B. Reid also recorded 47 hits, 27 runs scored and 28 RBI, while starting 51 of her 55 games played..
– Sophomore Kamdyn Kvistad also recorded eight home runs and drove in 27 runs, while her 71 total bases were third-most on the club.
– Senior RHP Alexis Reid made 31 appearances in the circle in her first season with the Jaguars – 25 starts, 14 complete games and five total shutouts. Of her five shutouts, four were solo with one combined. She finished the season with a 3.07 earned run average, and struck out 79 batters in her 143.2 innings of work.
– A. Reid ranked among the conference leaders in nine different statistical categories, and 141 hits were the fewest allowed by a Sun Belt pitcher.
– Among the list of seven newcomers, the trio of Kennedy Cronan, Victoria Ortiz and Samantha Yarbrough. Along with their all-state honors, Yarbrough (18th), Cronan (77th) and Ortiz (88th) were also selected to the 2018 AL,com High School Prep 100 List. The trio also finished in the Top 10 of voting for Miss Softball in the State of Alabama. Yarbrough was third on the list, while Cronan was listed sixth and Ortiz finished seventh.
– Both Ortiz and Cronan earned Second-Team All-American accolades from the National Fastptich Coaches Association following their senior seasons.
– Ortiz accumulated 57 home runs and 309 RBI during her prep career at Baker High School, both program records, and hit .515 for the Honeybees during the 2018 season with 16 homers and 78 RBI to go along with 26 doubles.
– For her career, Cronan finished with a .482 batting average, a .542 on-base percentage, 172 hits, 125 RBI and 132 runs scored. As a senior, Cronan batted .474 with 16 doubles, 25 homers and 62 RBIs for Daphne High School.
– Yarbrough starred both in the circle and at the plate at Fairhope High School.
– During her two seasons with the Pirates, she hit a combined 25 homers and drove in 99 runs at the plate, while winning 41 games on the circle
– Last season, Yarbrough led Fairhope to the 2018 7A Alabama State title. At the plate she batted .431 with 10 homers, 43 RBI and 54 runs scored, and even though she was limited due to injury in the circle, she still managed to go 13-2 with a 1.12 ERA and 124 strikeouts.

SCOUTING THE BEARS    
– Missouri State (0-0, 0-0 MVC) is coming off a 32-20 campaign a year ago, which included a 17-9 run in the Missouri Valley Conference and a regular-season runner-up finish.
– The Bears – picked to finish fourth in the MVC Preseason poll – return five starters and three pitchers, including a pair of all-conference selections.
– Sophomore shortstop Daphne Plummer leads MSU's offense after finishing third in the Valley in hitting (.382) setting a Bears' freshman record.
– Plummer was an all-MVC second-team pick a year ago led Missouri Valley in hits (63) and doubles (11).
– Senior catcher Darian Frost, who earned all-MVC first-team distinction, will redshirt in 2019 after off-season surgery. Frost batted .308 and hit five home runs, but led the club with 34 RBI.
– In the circle, Erin Griesbauer, Madison Hunsaker and Steffany Dickerson all return for the Bears.
– Griesbauer finished with an 8-4 record, a 2.41 earned run average.
– Hunsaker (5-1) and Dickerson (7-6) each finished with a 2.50 ERA and 2.74 ERA, respectively.
– Dickerson recorded 80 strikeouts in her 84.1 innings of work.
– Head coach Holly Hesse begs her 31st season and is the second-winningest coach in Missouri Valley Conference history with 781 victories.

THE SERIES VS. MISSOURI STATE    
– This will be the first meeting in the all-time series between the two programs.

SOUTH ALABAMA AGAINST THE VALLEY    
– South Alabama has faced a current Missouri Valley Conference member seven previous times.
– The Jaguars hold a 5-2 mark against opponents from the Valley.
– USA faced Drake last season at the February Freezer in Starkville, Miss., where the Bulldogs earned a 4-0 victory.
– South will also face Valley member Bradley twice at the Diamond 9 Citrus I Classic in Orlando, Fla. (March 1-2).

SCOUTING THE TIGERS    
– Tennessee State (0-0, 0-0 OVC) enters the 2019 season after finishing the 2018 season with a 4-48 record.
– Sophomore Katie Schneider is the top returning hitter for the Tigers as she hit .242 last season and her nine doubles led the club.
– Senior right hander Lauren Powell led the Tigers with 91 home runs and ended the season with a 4.96 ERA.

THE SERIES VS. TENNESSEE STATE    
– South Alabama and Tennessee State have met twice in the all-time series.
– The Jaguars hold a 2-0 advantage in the series.
– Both of those meetings have come on a neutral field.
– The two clubs last faced each other during the 2015 season at the Carolina Classic in Columbia, S.C., where the Jags picked up a 6-3 victory.
– The Jags hold a 15-4 scoring advantage in the two previous meetings.

SOUTH ALABAMA AGAINST THE OVC    
– South Alabama has faced a current Ohio Valley Conference member 29 previous times.
– The Jags hold a 20-9 record against OVC opponents.
– USA faced Murray State twice last season with both of those contests coming at the February Freezer hosted by Mississippi State. The two teams split those two meetings.
– The meeting with Tennessee State is the only time this season that the Jaguars are scheduled to face an OVC member.

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS    
– Louisiana Tech (0-0, 0-0 C-USA) comes into the opening weekend after recording 34 wins last season and a 15-9 mark in league play.
– Tech enters the season as the preseason favorite to win Conference USA.
– The Lady Techsters missed earning the program's first regular season conference title by less than a full game as they were swept on the final weekend of play.
– The Bulldogs return both the reigning CUSA Player of the Year Morgan Turkoly and Pitcher of the Year Preslee Gallaway, while teammates Marilyn Rizzato and Sloane Stewartson were also selected to the preseason all-conference team.
– Turkoly – a three-time all-conference selection – batted .409 with 65 hits in 159 at bats last season, while totaling 13 doubles, one triple and four home runs. She scored 46 runs and drove in 26 and was 18-for-22 in stolen bases.
– Turkoly ended the season with a program record 43-game reach base safely streak, third longest in the country, and became just the third player in program history to hit over .400 in a season.
– Turkoly ranked in the Top 20 in the nation in on-base percentage and Top 35 in walks per game. Her walk to strikeout radio (41/11) was the best in CUSA.
– The senior was named to the Top 50 Watch List for the 2019 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year at the end of last month.
– Gallaway – a two-time all-conference honoree – became the first Lady Techster to ever earn conference pitcher of the year honors as she posted an 18-8 record with a 2.43 earned run average.
– In her 173.0 innings of work, Gallaway allowed 157 hits and just 51 walks, and struck out 144 batters.
– One of Gallaway's victories in the circle a year ago came over Sun Belt member Texas State, who was ranked in the Top 25 at the time.

THE SERIES VS. LOUISIANA TECH    
– South Alabama and Louisiana Tech have met three times in the all-time series.
– The Jaguars have won all three of those meetings.
– The last time the two teams met came back during the 2011 season where they squared off at the Red and Blue Classic in Oxford, Miss.
– Two of the three meetings have come on a neutral field.
– South has recorded two shutouts and holds a 14-3 scoring advantage in the three outings.

SCOUTING THE HILLTOPPERS    
– Western Kentucky (0-0, 0-0 C-USA) is coming off a 28-win season a year ago and returns 13 position players and all four pitchers from that club.
– Offensively, the Toppers return sophomores Maddie Bowlds, Shelby Nunn and Jordan Thomas who were selected to the 2018 Conference USA All-Freshman Team.
– Bowlds posted a slash line of .313 / .373 / .395 during her first season in Bowling Green and her 13 sacrifice hits tied for the fifth-most in a single season by a Hilltopper. She's racked up 10 multi-hit games across 2018.
– Nunn made a C-USA-best 43 appearances in the circle – the second most in a WKU single season and led all CUSA freshmen pitchers with 15 wins.
– In addition to her C-USA all-freshman accolades, Thomas was also an all-region selection by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association after setting the program's single-season record for walks drawn with 40 and tying the single-season doubles record (16).
– Her 1.019 OPS rate was a team best, while she also led the Toppers in several other offensive categories including: runs scored (42), hits (51), doubles (16), triples (3), total bases (91), slugging percent (.565), walks (40) and on base percent (.454).
– Thomas finished the season with a team-high 25 extra-base hits including six home run.

THE SERIES VS. WESTERN KENTUCKY    
– South Alabama and Western Kentucky have met 26 times in the all-time series.
– South holds a 15-11 series advantage and have won seven of the last 10, including five straight, and 12 of the last 15.
– Of those 26 previous series meetings, only one (2018) has come out of conference play.
– Western Kentucky was a Sun Belt Conference member until the 2014 season.
– The Jaguars defeated WKU last season in Mobile, earning an 8-0 six-inning victory in that meeting.
– USA and WKU have meet four times at a neutral site with the Jags holding a 3-1 record in those contests.

SOUTH ALABAMA AGAINST CUSA    
– South Alabama has faced a current Conference USA members 155 previous times
– The Jags hold a 95-59-1 record against CUSA opponents.
– Of the 155 previous meetings against the league, 113 came against current CUSA members when they were members of the Sun Belt Conference.
– South faced three CUSA opponents and posted a 4-0 mark – Southern Mississippi (2), UAB and Western Kentucky.

JAGUARS AT THE SAND DOLLAR CLASSIC    
– South Alabama has competed at the Sand Dollar Classic three previous times (2017, '16 and '15).
– Of those three previous occasions, two have been in Gulf Shores, while the Jaguars hosted the tournament in 2017.
– USA holds an 11-1 (.917) record at the tournament, and have won its last nine contests at the event.
– South Alabama is 7-1 at the event at the Gulf Shores Sportsplex.

THEY SAID IT
Head coach Becky Clark
- On opening up the 2019 season: "We have had great effort the past few weeks and our competition level has been extremely high. In addition, this team has done a great job of working together in preseason and taking ownership in their team. I look for us to take that mentality into this weekend and have a consistent mental and physical effort for all four games."

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/WeAreSout_JAGS. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

Join the Bullpen Club, the softball specific support club of the Jaguar Athletic Fund.  Members have access to purchase parking passes and receive Jaguar Softball gear.  All donations to the Bullpen Club go directly to support the South Alabama softball program.  For more information on how you can join visit:  jaguarathleticfund.com/bullpenclub.

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