Stephen F. Austin
Lafayette College
Softball Set to Travel to Louisiana-Lafayette for the 37th Annual Louisiana Classic
2/9/2023 7:53:00 PM | Softball
A Look at SFA
It is a new era for SFA as Head Coach Richie Bruister is enters his first season with the Lumberjacks after leading Texas A&M-Commerce to a 33-18 season and a NCAA DII Championship appearance against West Texas A&M. He is entering his 18th season as a head coach and currently holds an overall record of 577-313. He spent the first five years at Henderson State, then was at Texas Women's for five years, and was at Texas A&M-Commerce for the past seven years.
SFA was picked to finish third in the WAC Preseason Coaches Poll, and Gaby Garcia was named to the All-WAC Preseason Team. The Lumberjacks lost five from last season's squad, including WAC Pitcher of the Year, Kassidy Wilbur. This roster will feature five seniors (Gaby Garcia, Mackenzie Bennett, Camryn Middlebrook, Reagyn Parrish, and Sydnee Hebert). Four of the five seniors led the team last season in batting average. Bennett finished the season with a batting average of .330, followed by Garcia with .321, Hebert with .314, and Middlebrook with .301. Two Lumberjacks recorded over ten multi-hit games last season. Garcia led the team with 16 multi-hit games, followed by Middlebrook who recorded 13. Hebert and Garcia were named to the All-WAC Team last season. Hebert had a 1.092 on-base plus slugging percentage. She added 32 RBI, 11 home runs and drew 38 walks. Garcia started in 51 games, batted .316 with 31 RBI and added eight home runs and a .526 slugging percentage in the regular season.
SFA has played Louisiana-Lafayette two times and has lost both of those matchups. They have scored a total of three runs during this series. The Lumberjacks hope to repeat their success from last season, where they finished first in the southwest division and went into the conference tournament as the No. 2 seed.
SFA vs Lafayette College
Dates/Times: Feb. 10th at 2:00 p.m.; Feb. 11th & Feb. 12th at 10:30 a.m.
Live Stream: None
Stadium: Lamson Park
Series: First Meeting (0-0)
A Look at the Leopards
The Leopards are also beginning a new era as Karavin Dew is entering her first season as head coach of the Lafayette College softball program. Dew is coming off a 2022 season as an assistant coach at Tennessee State where she helped the team set a mark for its most wins since the 2014 campaign. Dew was responsible for developing and implementing practice plans for the pitchers and catchers and was integrally involved in recruiting.
Lafayette College finished last season 10-37, which is a nine-win improvement from the 2021 campaign. Freshman shortstop Harlie Bickett was named to the All-Patriot League Softball Second Team. Bickett started 45 of the Leopards' 47 games, helping push the team to a nine-win improvement from the 2021 campaign. As a rookie, the Biology major led the team in batting average (.270), hits (40) and triples (1) and was second on the team in doubles (7) while hitting out of the No. 2 spot in the order.
SFA vs No. 20 Louisiana-Lafayette
Dates/Times: Feb. 11th & Feb. 12th at 1:00 p.m.
Live Stream: ESPN+
Stadium: Lamson Park
Series: 3rd meeting (ULL leads 2-0)
A Look at the Ragin' Cajuns
The Ragin' Cajuns (47-13, 23-4 Sun Belt in 2021) were the unanimous choice in the preseason SBC coaches poll, receiving all of the possible 12 first-place votes. Louisiana was selected as the conference's preseason favorite for the fifth (5th) consecutive year. Sophie Piskos (C), Stormy Kotzelnick (1B), Alexa Langeliers (SS), Jourdyn Campbell (3B), Maddie Hayden (OF) and Karly Heath (DP) were the six Ragin' Cajuns voted onto the Preseason All-SBC Team. Louisiana led the entire league with six honorees on the preseason team, the next highest amount was three selections by Texas State.
The three-time defending Sun Belt regular season and tournament champions finished last season with a 47-13 record (23-4 SBC). Louisiana is coming off the program's 23rd consecutive 40-win season and NCAA Tournament appearance. In the 2022 season, the Ragin' Cajuns placed a conference-high nine players on the All-Sun Belt team, produced five NFCA All-Central Region performers, recorded a program-record .351 season batting average and generated the most home runs in Gerry Glasco's tenure (82). As he heads into Year No. 6 guiding the Ragin' Cajuns, Glasco aims to continue molding his influx of young talent - the bulk from the No. 1 recruiting class that debuted in Spring 2022 - into a strong and durable national postseason contender.
