DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern softball will kick off a grueling out-of-conference schedule with a season-opening road trip to the St. Mary's NCAA Division II College Classic in San Antonio, Texas, where the team will face five former conference and regional foes Feb. 1-3.
The Savage Storm open the season with a Feb. 1 meeting with Texas A&M-Kingsville at 4 p.m. and will follow that with a 6 p.m. contest against Tarleton State.
SE will face-off against Texas Woman's at 2 p.m. and Incarnate Word at 4 p.m. on Feb. 2, and will finish the trip with a Feb. 3 meeting against host St. Mary's at 11:30 a.m.
Southeastern is coming off a 40-16 season and is picked to finish second in the Great American Conference.
The club returns three regular starters in
Paige Priest,
Courtney Moore and
Whitney Hamilton, as well as
Darrian Williams and
Kaija Morris who each started more than 20 games and at least half the game they appeared in.
SE will be replacing its entire infield, however, and looking to fill in a lineup that lost four of its top five hitters.
Priest is the team's top returner offensively after posting the team's second-best average at .345 last season in the lead off role. She posted a pair of triples and six doubles with 13 RBI and 31 runs scored.
Hamilton averaged .306 in a combination of designated player and key pinch-hitting appearances. She finished with six home runs and 23 RBI.
Moore hit .272 on the year, but pitched in three homers and matched the team-high in RBI with 38.
Morris posted a .333 average in limited hitting appearances, but posted a .986 fielding percentage with one error in the field while appearing at multiple positions.
Williams hit .277 on the season, but came on late and finished the year with six RBI and 12 runs scored.
SE will face four former Lone Star Conference rivals on the weekend as well as a regional rival from the past.
Texas Woman's was picked to finish second in the LSC this season after a 37-17 mark a year ago.
Other former conference foes the Storm will face this weekend were picked lower in the poll, with Incarnate Word finishing fifth, Tarleton State in seventh and TAMUK in ninth.
The host St. Mary's is the favorite to win the Heartland Conference championship after posting a 34-19 record last season.
Southeastern will follow up the season-opening tournament bgy hosting its own Southeastern Regional Invitational at the Durant Multi-Sports Complex Feb. 8-10 in Durant, Okla.
