2006 Softball Preview Part 4 - Wright State Raiders
Feb. 3, 2006
The Wright State softball team looks to continue the climb upward in the Horizon League standings in 2006 under head coach Mike Larabee, who enters his second season at the helm.
Last season, the Raider offense showed marked improvement, raising the team batting average 54 points from the season before, including 91 points in Horizon League play, slugging percentage by 61 points and on-base percentage by 82 points. In 21 fewer games than 2004, WSU nearly matched the overall win total, tripled the number of Horizon League wins and scored 10 more runs.
Wright State looks to improve on those numbers again in 2006 as the Raiders will have a mixture of nine returning letterwinners and six newcomers.
Leading the list of returnees is junior pitcher Amanda Cody, a First Team All-Horizon League honoree in 2005. Last season, Cody finished second in the League in hitting overall at .402 and in on-base percentage at .492. She also ranked fifth in slugging percentage at .549. In the circle, she was fifth in strikeouts with 123 and sixth in innings pitched at 125.2. During Horizon League play, Cody was second in on-base percentage (.525), third in hitting (.431), tied for fourth in hits (22), tied for fifth in RBI (14) and eight in slugging percentage (.627) while also being third in strikeouts (49) and 10th in earned run average (3.13).
Also back is junior outfielder Mary Jane D'Arcy, who was named both Second Team All-Horizon League and to the All-Newcomer Team. D'Arcy was seventh in the League in overall on-base percentage (.402) and 14th in the League in batting average (.316). She also ranked fifth in on-base percentage during League play at .479 as she hit .390 in such games.Senior infielder Brandi Steiner led the League in runs scored per game at 0.97 (28 in 29 games) and was second in stolen bases (10) per contest at 0.34. Steiner hit .267 in 2005 and was third on the squad in on-base percentage at .388.
Carly Rutherford, the only other senior on the team, will likely see time in the outfield after playing mostly in the infield her first three seasons. She was second to Steiner on the squad in stolen bases with nine, including a team-best five in League action.
Junior catcher/outfielder Kristen Farley hit .300 overall in 2005 and was third on the team in runs batted in with 15, nine of those coming in League play. She was also second in doubles with five.
Junior first baseman Dana Boehmer became one of WSU's top hitters off the bench with a .282 average and a .359 slugging percentage. She also saw time in the circle, appearing in nine games overall, and may be call on for that role again this season.
Junior infielder Patti Scherer hopes to bounce back from a series of injuries that have limited her performance during her Raider career. Scherer hit .313 in nine League contests in 2005 and she also gives Wright State additional speed in the lineup.
Junior pitcher Ashley Clapsaddle played first baseman and pinch-hit her first two years with the Raiders, but should see action in the circle this spring after making five such appearances in the fall, including a win over Ohio where she threw five shutout innings.
Sophomore infielder Jacqueline Macy rounds out the list of returnees. Macy is coming off of a solid freshman campaign as she hit .284 overall and .289 in League play.
Along with nine letterwinners, Wright State will also have six newcomers on the roster, led by freshman pitcher Jessie Granger. Granger finished her senior year in high school with a 28-1 record and 447 strikeouts in 208 innings. The Michigan Gatorade Player of the Year as a junior and senior, she pitched 10 no-hitters and five perfect games in 2005 and also appeared in the Faces in the Crowd segment in the May 9 Sports Illustrated.
Freshman shortstop Danielle Dean was a four-year all-conference selection in her high school career. She was also named all-area, all-district and team MVP in 2005 as she finished with a .450 batting average, 42 runs scored and 39 stolen bases in 40 attempts, giving her 144 steals during her career.
Freshman catcher Melanie McInally was an All-State selection as both a junior and senior. She also holds school records for batting average and home runs in a season.
Sophomore outfielder Michelle Logan joins the team after hitting .263 for a Northern Kentucky squad that finished 55-2 in 2005 and advanced to the NCAA Division II World Series while sophomore outfielder Krissy Kesler comes aboard after a solid prep career at nearby Newton High School.The newest Raider is sophomore third baseman Bridget Henry, who joined the team in January. Henry was a NAIA All-America nominee for Notre Dame (Ohio) College last season as well as All-Region IX, First Team All-American Mideast Conference and the AMC's North Division Freshman of the Year.
Wright State faces its toughest schedule ever, starting with the Louisville Slugger Desert Classic in Las Vegas February 17-19. The Raiders will face Utah, Oregon State, UTEP, California and Purdue in that tournament.
In March, WSU heads to the USF adidas Invitational, taking on such teams as Michigan State, South Florida and Georgia Tech. The Raiders will then face the Spartans twice as part of the IU Classic later in the month, along with the host Hoosiers and Western Kentucky.
If Wright State can make the kind of strides it made last season, the Raiders should definitely be a factor in the 2006 Horizon League race.
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Story provided by Matt Zircher, Wright State Associate Sports Information Director.
