With spring right around the corner, so is the 2015 softball season.
The South Carolina softball team will take the field this weekend to kick off its season in the Pirate Classic at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina.
Coming off their best season since 2007, the Gamecocks are looking to build upon last year’s success.
Previously coached under Joyce Compton, the team made several NCAA appearances and one SEC Championship in 2000. Many believe that status can be achieved again under head coach Beverly Smith, who arrived in 2011 and led the team into back-to-back NCAA appearances in the past two seasons.
The team hit the ground running with fresh legs after winter break, and Smith had the Gamecocks start spring practice on Jan. 7 before classes started, giving the girls a few days to, “focus solely on the game.”
South Carolina will return to the field this season with seven primary starters and two pitchers in the 2015 season, including sophomore Nickie Blue.
Smith again challenged tradition when she did away with having one pitcher for an entire game, giving Blue the chance to prove herself in her freshman season.
Blue won 18 games as a freshman in the 2014 season and wasted no time making a name for herself as she led the NCAA with seven saves and was named to the SEC All-Freshman Team.
Sophomore first baseman Kaylea Snaer is another player to watch, as she was also named to the SEC-All Freshman Team after hitting five home runs during league games. Snaer’s eight home runs in 2014 were the seventh-most by a South Carolina player in a single season.
Senior catcher/third baseman Sarah Mooney, who set a new single season record with South Carolina for her 12 home runs in 2014 and redshirt senior pitcher Julie Sarratt remain in the mix again this year with high expectations.
"We've set goals as the season goes. We want to go to the SEC tournament,” Sarratt said. “From there we want to go to NCAA regionals. Once we pass that goal, then super regionals. The ultimate goal is the national championship,”
After tying for eighth overall in the SEC in 2014, South Carolina was projected to place 10th in the 2015 season with Florida, Kentucky and Georgia all receiving first place votes. Nine out of the 13 SEC teams were ranked in the NFCA/USA Today Coaches Poll and the ESPN USA Softball rankings.
The Gamecocks will be featured on the SEC network for nine games this year and South Carolina hosts 31 games this season, starting with UCF on Feb. 11 at the Carolina Softball Stadium.
“We’ve really developed this program,” said senior catcher Olivia Lawrence. “This team is going to take us where we’ve never been before.”