Softball Playing Eight Contests in Five-Day Trip to Florida

Softball Playing Eight Contests in Five-Day Trip to Florida

LIVE STATS ON SUNDAY: NAZARETH | KENYON

BROCKPORT ON MONDAY: LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO

LIVE STATS ON WEDNESDAY: EDGEWOOD | SALEM STATE

LIVE STATS ON THURSDAY: CROWN | SUNY CANTON

WILMINGTON, Ohio – The Wilmington College softball team opens its 2018 season on Sunday afternoon as the Fightin' Quakers head south to Fort Myers, Florida to play eight games in five days. Wilmington will start off its road trip against Nazareth College; first pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.

The Schedule: The Quakers are beginning the 2018 campaign on a positive note after finishing the 2017 season with a 7-29 overall record. The Golden Flyers look to start their 2018 season with a strong start after going 19-15 overall in the 2017 season. Kenyon is opening its season in dominant fashion as the Ladies are 8-2 to start the season. The College at Brockport softball team gears up for the 2018 season in high hopes of continuing its tradition of success as the Golden Eagles went 18-20 overall last season. The Garnet softball team is 1-1 so far on the season and look to keep on improving its record as they head south. The Edgewood College softball team looks to turn things around as the Eagles started the season 1-3. The Salem State University softball team aims to build off of the success of the 2017 season as the Vikings went 23-17 over and finished third in the conference. The softball team at Crown College has hopes to have a quick turnaround as the Storm is 0-6 on the season so far. The 2017 season was big for the SUNY Kangaroos softball team as it finished the season with a record breaking 24 wins and 18 losses, and it looks to continue its success into the 2018 season.

The Coaches: Beth Floyd enters her 11th season as Wilmington's head softball coach in 2018. The winningest coach in program history, Floyd guided the Quakers to their first ever winning season in 2013. She is also an associate director of athletics at the College. Jack Carpenter will be going into his 12th season at the helm for the Golden Flyers after leading them to their best season in 2017. Erin O'Neill, a 2002 Kenyon graduate enters into her eighth season as head coach of the Ladies. John Dumaw heads into his 20th season as head coach of the Golden Eagles. The Eagles under Dumaw have won at least 20 games in 15 of its last 17 campaigns. Melissa Finley is head coach of the Swarthmore College softball team. Entering into his 16th season, J.P. Richards looks to continue his success at the helm for the Edgewood College softball team. Salem will be under direction of first – year head coach, Ariel LaRosa as the Vikings look to continue the momentum off of last season.  Jamie Ross enters his seventh season as head coach of the Storm softball team.  Liz McGinley looks for continued success in her third year at the helm for the Kangaroos as she led the SUNY softball team to a record breaking 24 win season in 2017.

Hitters to Watch: Savnnah Hooper led Wilmington offensively in several categories last season including: batting average (.325), stolen bases (26), hits (38), walks (14) and runs scored (23). Jillia Cook also returns having hit three home runs and driven in a team-high 15 runs last season. Both Savannah Hooper and Cook were named All-Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) in 2017. Nazareth Junior Marisa Tortora finished the 2017 season hitting .364 with 16 runs scored 24 RBIs and one home run. Junior Britny Patterson is leading the Ladies with a .450 batting average and has also gathered 10 RBIs so far along with 10 runs scored. Sophomore Jessica Koneski averaged .383 last season for the Golden Eagles as well as picking up four home runs and 23 RBIs. Kennedy Kings, a sophomore at Swarthmore College looks to continue her strong start after leading the Garnet last year by hitting .368 while hitting one home run and gathering 18 RBIs. Laurissa Belott is starting her freshman season off right as she is leading the Edgewood Eagles hitting .526 in five games so far. Belott has picked up 10 hits and three RBIs. Salem State's statistics were not presented. Lis King, Junior for the Storm softball team his hitting a team leading .357 with 2 runs scored and 2 RBIs through six games this season. Senior Stefanie Miller started all 40 games for the Kangaroos in 2017. She averaged .406 while picking up 36 RBIs and three home runs.

Pitchers to Watch: Beth Periscano is the top returner for Wilmington's pitching staff as the senior through 68.2 innings during her junior campaign. Periscano carried a 4.69 ERA to go along with 19 strikeouts. The Quakers welcome three freshman pitchers to the program this season. Madison Zeis is the top pitcher to return for Nazareth as she carried a 2.71 ERA last season while the Kenyon duo of Amanda Coyle and Keely Sweet have combined for a 7-4 record. Amanda Colon and Becky Knorr both pitched over 70 innings for Brockport last season while Maddie Bowie has Swarthmore's lone victory this season. Shannon Whitmus has both of Edgewood's victories this season while Kailee Leathers has not allowed an earned run for Crown. Kelsey White is the lone Kangaroo pitcher who saw action on the mound that returned from last year. (Statistics for Salem State were not available.

Coverage: Live statistics will be available for all games but against Swarthmore College. Live video will be available for the contest against The College at Brockport on March 12th – visit the links above.

Social Media: Wilmington athletics is represented on Facebook (Wilmington College Athletics), Twitter (@DubCQuakers) and Instagram (@DubCQuakers). Follow all the happenings of Wilmington College on social media by using the hashtag "#WeAreDubC".

Up Next: Wilmington travels to Mount St. Joseph University for a doubleheader on March 22.