INDIANAPOLIS – The new campaign for Great Midwest Athletic Conference softball student-athletes is on the horizon with several teams scheduled to make their season debuts later this week.
 
Spring Break trips await for some and non-conference schedules are stacked with tough regional opponents as the league looks forward to seeing another competitive G-MAC race unfold in this year’s standings.
 
As reigning G-MAC champs again, Trevecca Nazarene is the established powerhouse and deservedly so. With four consecutive conference tournament trophies brought back to Nashville, the Trojans are still at the top until proven otherwise.
 
Five in a row will still be a challenge, but one the Trojans won’t back down from the target on their back again.
 
TNU has also proven to be a force to be reckoned with on the national stage, advancing all the way to last year’s NCAA DII Midwest Regional final against Grand Valley State as the No. 8 seed.
 
Eight teams are in the mix for the 2017 G-MAC title this year before the conference expansion in the spring of 2018 welcomes several new softball programs to the fold.
 
A few new faces have joined the coaching ranks, including Rachel Mack at Alderson Broaddus, Jordan Olson at Davis & Elkins and Malone (first-year league member) with Kathryn Bzdafka.
 
Below is a brief glimpse into each program going into the spring season:
 
The 2015 G-MAC Freshman of the Year at Alderson Broaddus, Samantha Turner, is now a junior after leading the Battlers in several categories, including triples and RBI as a sophomore…Turner is currently eighth all-time in G-MAC history in hitting with a .341 average…She is one of the team’s top three hitters all returning to help anchor the offense with another junior in Alexxi Timmons (.311) and sophomore slugger Brianna Burger (.305)…Timmons and Alexis Kimball were the only Battlers to start in all possible 48 contests…Pitching is a question mark following the depature of over 240 combined innings from Emily Davis and Haleigh Myrick …The Battlers are looking to take the next collective step forward after picking up 13 wins in 2016…AB has a total of eight freshmen on the spring roster vying for immediate playing time.



Where there’s a will, there’s a way, and the Yellow Jackets of Cedarville willed their way to last year’s G-MAC Championship final while pulling a few upsets along the way…Head coach Wes Rowe navigated his fourth-seeded squad to the final vs. TNU by beating No. 2 Kentucky Wesleyan twice and No. 3 D&E to begin the tournament…Some key pieces of the puzzle are back with Brianne O’Dell (.369, 17 2B, 27 RBI), currently second all-time in career batting average in the G-MAC with a .374 clip and versatile enough to cover several positions defensively…Junior Danielle Wolgamot is dangerous in the middle of the order and led the team in home runs and RBI…Speedy junior outfielder Logan Eppich is primed to be the all-time leading base stealer with 78 and only trailing current leader Ansley Brantley (TNU) by six to tie…Avary Humes and Morgan Arbogast each made strong contributions as freshmen and Arbogast dazzled in the circle with a 2.53 ERA and 171 innings pitched…Gone are big bats in the form of Nicole Davis and Carlyn Hanzel, No. 1 and No. 2 in the conference record books in career hits and also top-five RBI producers.
 


Tied as the G-MAC co-league leader in hits last year was from Davis & Elkins in senior Danielle Norton with 72…Norton was still the league leader in doubles and was second in RBI…Norton and sophomore Alyssa Cairns form a lethal offensive combo as both their batting averages pushed close to .400…Cairns saw a prominent role from day one with the Senators and finished fifth in the G-MAC in hitting at .395…Allie Lapallo was dynamic in the circle with a 1.95 ERA, can be productive at the plate and by all accounts, is set for a strong junior season…Katie Manson and Kaitlyn Huffman each excelled in prominent roles as freshmen with significant playing time…She could lead the G-MAC in just about every pitching category if she can repeat or build on her sophomore success…Graduated seniors Kayla Whoolery and Taylor Norton were key departures and a big part of D&E’s 33-win campaign last year at key positions.


 
Kentucky Wesleyan will lean on a balance of hitting and pitching to remain as one of the league’s best and contend for the program’s first G-MAC title…G-MAC Freshman of the Year Meredith Daunhauer emerged as the league hitter in hitting (.416) as a rookie and could finish among the G-MAC greats when her career concludes…Once she gets on base, Daunhauer is a threat to run (32 SB) and cross the plate (32 runs)…Junior Courtney Lockwood hit .341 last season...Casey Smith and Maci Brown have each earned their share of G-MAC weekly awards in the pitcher’s circle and will form an experienced rotation with a strong track record…Smith has multiple no-hitters to her credit and Brown logged a 2.93 ERA and 11 wins as a freshman in 2016…Replacing the core nucleus of players like Mackenzie Weedman, Kaci Ovelgoenner and Samantha Marksbury, will be interesting to monitor.
 


Trying to predict the season outcome for Malone, like any sport for the first-year G-MAC league member, can be tricky…Last year’s squad was 13-28 overall and had a tough 3-22 run in its final chapter with the GLIAC…In the G-MAC, the Pioneers have proven to be competitive in any sport throughout the course of the year regardless of competition and softball won’t be any different…Malone will have a trip to Myrtle Beach to get things going, a nice icebreaker that includes games against two league opponents…Senior outfielder Mikayla Fowler is going to be a key piece of the puzzle as one off  the team’s top returning offensive performers…Kari Hall pitched a majority of the innings a season ago; she graduated and returners Hannah Ramirez, Faith Freeman and Abbie Hughes, could see increased roles…Hughes produced a .365 batting line in limited plate appearances as a freshman.
 


Ohio Valley is looking to improve upon a 12-win season last spring and qualify for one of the spots in the conference tournament…Kristine Brown put together one of the strongest seasons by emerging among the league’s best in hitting and led the Fighting Scots in several categories…She will be missed as the team’s top pitcher as well with a 3.77 ERA, five wins and almost 150 innings logged; also gone is Madison Wallace, who led the team in hits and was second in average with a .327 clip…Kyle Doelling started 41 of the team’s 45 games and batted .297 with 15 doubles, showcasing some extra-base pop at the top of the lineup…Doelling also drove in 22 runs and had three home runs…Sophomore Arianna Escobar will be looking to build on a strong rookie campaign that included a .290 average, 38 hits and 11 RBI…Escobar doubles as an option in the pitching circle after appearing in 16 games as a freshman.
 


For Trevecca Nazarene, cornerstone names like Haley Fagan, Ansley Brantley, Shelby Andrews and Jordan Griner, were integral in building the Trojans into a conference dynasty they current are…It will be hard to not see their names in the box score or on awards lists for their accomplishments, but the cupboard is far from bare with talent…Junior Kat Burbrink broke through with a .362 line with 10 doubles and four home runs…Senior Alex Richardson has been a big part of all four conference title runs while starting in exactly 150 games over her first three seasons…The healthy return of toolsy infielder Bailey Alexander will be a huge boost; she went down early last spring after turning in an all-conference first-team campaign as a freshman with a .408 batting line; senior Kaitlin Crumpler was an all-conference a pick year ago on the infield…Sophomore Mary Collins belted nine home runs in her first season with the program and sported one of the best on-base percentages in the league…Lefty-swinging junior Danielle Tyson is a valuable corner infielder that can be slotted anywhere in a lineup with speed (14 SB)…Fagan will hold every possible conference pitching record for quite some time; her legacy has been etched permanently…Sophomore Morgan Powell and senior Sammie Jo Ivy will most likely see an increased workload and the pair combined for nine wins in nearly 90 innings last year.
 


Returning to the conference tournament last year was Ursuline, which finished the regular strong to earn one of the final postseason seeds…The Arrows split their final series against Davis & Elkins with a pair of one-run wins and managed to beat Trevecca Nazarene once in the series prior…The tournament included a win in extra innings before running into a tough Kentucky Wesleyan program…The next step is for a little more of an extended stay in the six-team bracket…Head coach Sue Woodford is stocked with an upperclassman heavy roster, including five seniors and five juniors…The big bats are back and the pitching is back; Senior Brittany Humbel and junior Gina Rosshirt nearly had an identical split with their pitching lines...Humbel averaged nearly a strikeout per inning…Brigitte Snow batted .407 and started every possible game along with Hannah Trent and Alison Porter...Sophomore Sadie Jones is a dual talent in the circle and at the dish; she earned pitcher of the week conference honors early in her career…Versatile junior Leah Leshnack provides emotional fire on the left side of the infield; she attended the NCAA Student-Athlete Leadership as a G-MAC rep.