FOREST, Va. – The Emory & Henry College Softball Team has been picked to finish 10th in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference regular season, ODAC officials announced Wednesday. The poll was voted on by the league's 11 head coaches.
Virginia Wesleyan College took the top spot in the poll with 96 points, earning seven first-place votes. Roanoke College, which finished fourth at the 2012 NCAA Division III Championship, was voted second with the remaining four top picks (94 points). Bridgewater College (82), Randolph-Macon College (65) and Shenandoah University (61) round out the top five.
Emory & Henry, under second-year Head Coach Sara Schoenhoft, returns nine letterwinners from last year's squad that posted a 14-25 record, the most wins since 2007 (23). The Wasps earned the number eight seed in the ODAC Tournament, its first berth since the 2007 campaign.
In the first round, the Wasps faced regular season champion Virginia Wesleyan, taking the game to the bottom of the seventh with no score. VWC found itself with two outs and extra innings looming but was able to get a triple and subsequent single to escape with the 1-0 victory.
E&H moved to the elimination bracket to take on Lynchburg College with a win-or-go-home situation at hand. The Wasps found themselves down 5-2 in the bottom of the sixth but put together a seven-run rally to stun the Hornets and eliminate them from the tournament, 9-5.
In day two of the tournament, Emory & Henry ran into an Eastern Mennonite University team that it split with during the regular season. The Royals broke open a 1-0 game in the top of the second with seven runs, en route to a 10-0 victory that signaled the exit for the Wasps.
Emory & Henry will look to last season's tournament as a starting point for this year's campaign. The ultimate goal will be to fool the polls and reach the tournament in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2006-07.
Leading the Wasps are seniors Ashley Ebersole (Maurertown, Va.), Veronica Blankenship (Roanoke, Va.) and Courtney Perkinson (Chesapeake, Va.). Ebersole batted .252 a year ago as she led the squad with five home runs and 27 RBI from her catcher position. Blankenship and Perkinson hit .308 and .263, respectively for E&H.
Junior centerfielder Cortney Halsey (Independence, Va.) will once again command the outfield and continue to improve at the plate after hitting .275 last year with four doubles, three home runs and 12 RBI. Junior third baseman Martha Fluharty (Halifax, N.C.) hit .327 with a team-high 11 doubles, and will anchor the hot corner of the infield.
Returning in the circle for E&H are sophomores Brandy Bryant (Roanoke, Va.) and Katie Grimm (Staunton, Va.). Bryant posted a 5-8 record with a 3.11 ERA last year, striking out 73 batters in 72.0 innings of work. Grimm went 3-7 with a pair of ODAC wins over Guilford and Sweet Briar which helped propel the Wasps into the ODAC Tournament. Sophomore Bethany Anderson (Dublin, Va.) hit .326 with 16 RBI and a team-leading 13 walks and will return as a second baseman.
The incoming class of four freshmen will prove to be an immediate boost to the program. Taylor Doss (Damascus, Va.) and Hannah Bays (Abingdon, Va.) will fill out the infield at shortstop and first base, respectively while Taylor Banner (Castlewood, Va.) is projected to be a starter in the circle for the Wasps. Kaitlyn Pruitt (Abingdon, Va.) rounds out an all-Southwest Virginia class and will be looked upon as a left-handed pitcher in relief.
Emory & Henry will open the season when they travel to Fayetteville, N.C. on Friday, February 22 and Saturday, February 23 for Methodist University's Early Bird Tournament. The Wasps face the Lions of Piedmont College and the Case Western Reserve University Spartans on the first day of the tournament with first pitch set for 9:00 a.m.
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