HARDEEVILLE, S.C. — The reigning Mid-South Conference softball regular season and tournament champions get in action this week, as the Lady Tigers have traveled to the NAIA Southern Challenge hosted by University of South Carolina-Beaufort.
The field will consist of eight of the top NAIA teams from the southeastern U.S. – two each from The Sun Conference, the Appalachian Athletic Conference, the Southern States Athletic Conference, and the Mid-South Conference. Among the eight teams, four were ranked in the Top 20 in the final NAIA Coaches' Poll last season while another received votes.
No. 12 Campbellsville is slated to play six games in three days, starting on Thursday with a doubleheader vs. Bryan College and No. 16 Reinhardt University at 11 a.m. ET.
CU will then have another doubleheader scheduled for Friday vs. Thomas University and the host Sand Sharks from USCB. Game times are scheduled for 3 and 5:30 p.m., respectively.
On Saturday, the Lady Tigers will take on No. 10 William Carey at 10 a.m. and Faulkner at 12:30 p.m.
With two fields being used, live video and stats links will change each game. Those links are posted on the USCB Tournament Page (above) and also on the softball page on
www.CampbellsvilleTigers.com.
The Lady Tigers enter the week with a trio of pitchers in the mix to throw innings - junior
Neely Quint will be joined by sophomores
Morgan Gailor and
Rachel Denkins in the circle.
Quint is coming off consecutive 20-win seasons, and her leadership in the circle will be looked upon from a defense that finished second in the MSC in fielding percentage last season at .949.
In 2016, Quint finished with a 19-4 record in her 28 appearances. She was ranked third in the Mid-South with an ERA of 2.31, fourth with 19 wins and sixth in strikeouts (70). She was also the lone pitcher from the MSC with a sub-one walks per game average of 0.67. At the national level, Quint ranked sixth in that category.
Gailor saw extensive action in the 2016 season as a freshman. She posted a 1.28 ERA while finishing with seven strikeouts, as well as not allowing any walks in 27.1 innings. Gailor also provided some offense for the Lady Tigers. In 42 at bats, she hit .238, while also launching three homeruns, and finishing with 13 RBI.
In addition, CU enters with a big portion of its offense intact from last season's run through the Mid-South Conference.
Jacqueline Roof registered superb numbers en route to being named the first-ever First-Team NAIA All-American in program history.
Roof, who bats leadoff, led the Lady Tigers in batting average (.432), slugging percentage (.839), hits (67), runs scored (66), and home runs (16). Roof was also second on the team in doubles (13), RBI (47), had the least amount of strikeouts (6), and was third in total walks (23).
In addition, CU has four others returning that have played valuable innings the last two seasons –
Hailey Szpila (1B),
Markie Smith (C),
Brittany Rippy (2B) and
Rebecca Miller (C/3B).
Freshman
Tori Humphrey and sophomore
Maddie Sweeney are both expected to see time at third base as well.
Campbellsville returns First- and Second-Team All-Conference performers in
Brianna Scott and
Madison Mudd in right and center field, respectively. In her sophomore season, Scott ranked ninth in the NAIA in home runs (15) and 17th in RBIs (61), which led the Lady Tiger offense. Scott was also third on the team with a .327 batting average, second on the team in slugging percentage (.709), and she also led the team in doubles with 16. In addition to being named First-Team All-MSC, Scott was a Second-Team NFCA All-American and CoSIDA Academic All-American.
In her rookie year, Mudd played and started in 55 games and was fifth on the team in hits (55) and third in doubles (12). Mudd also hit .313 and finished with a slugging percentage of .472. She was one of three Lady Tigers to earn Second-Team All-MSC honors last year.
CU is looking to fill the void in left field after the graduation of
Adrean Jordan. Freshman
Mia Aldridge has turned heads and is expected to see playing time in the outfield.
For in-game updates and to follow the Lady Tigers behind the scenes, check them out on Twitter - @CvilleTigers and @CvilleLTS. Also, on Facebook at Campbellsville Tigers.
