Utah Statesman article II (Oldham)

By: Chet Gardner

Aggies are ready to play ball

Utah State softball is ready to get the 2009 season started. They have been practicing for the spring season for nearly a month now, most of which has been in less-than-friendly weather. They are set to open the season at the Red Desert Classic in St. George today where they will face 12th ranked Tennessee.

USU is returning six starters from last year’s team that ended up at 14-34 and 2-15 in conference play. The Aggies lost two key players from last year’s team in Kayla Dunn and Amy Schaible, both all-WAC selections for 2008. However, USU is returning its leading hitters in batting average and totals hits from last season. Sophomore Kelley Kaneshiro hit .359 while Emily Reilly had 46 hits last season. They are returning 12 players from last year’s team.

“We won’t know how good we really are until we play and see how we handle the pressure” Coach Candi Letts said about this year’s club. “It’ll be good playing somebody besides ourselves, and seeing live pitching from other kids.”

Senior pitcher Lindsey Benson said, “I’m more prepared this year than any year.” That could be a good sign for the Aggies. Lindsey had 136 strikeouts last year which is good for sixth all-time on the Aggies single season strikeout list. She has 290 K’s for her career which puts her at seventh all time for Aggie pitchers.

The Aggies were recently slated at number seven on the WAC preseason polls while Fresno State was picked to repeat as champions. The team acknowledges where they are at in the standings but refuse to concede. “We understand why we’re there, we definitely don’t except that but understand that we’re there based a lot on last year. Every year is different, and they need to prove themselves” Coach Letts said. “It is motivation for us.”

USU’s Benson doesn’t really think about the polls, and says it doesn’t really matter. “We’re looking forward to the season, I think we’re gonna surprise a lot of people this year” She said.

Utah State is gearing up for what appears to be a very tough preseason schedule. They acknowledge that it is good to have a tough preseason schedule to prepare them for what really matters: conference play. Benson said that their goal is to have a winning record this season and to finish off the conference season in the top three going into the tournament.

Coach Letts and Benson both agree that everyone seems to be a lot more committed this year, in focusing on team chemistry and just playing well together. “We’re all in it to win it, and everyone is working hard on and off the field” Benson said.

The Aggies are set to play Tennessee at 10:30 a.m. today and will play Loyola Marymount immediately following that game. Saturday they will play another back to back against Northern Colorado and Utah. They will finish the tournament in a game against Idaho State on Sunday.

-chet.gardner @aggiemail.usu.edu