2000 Outlook
Owls Continue Rebuilding Process
This season will be a rebuilding one for the Temple softball program. Head Coach Rocci Pignoli believes the Owls are getting closer to where we want to be.
Pignoli, who is in his third season as head coach, feels confident about his second recruiting class and is very pleased with the freshman and transfer students coming in. I feel we have a good mix with the upper classmen who are here. We are getting closer to a good starting line-up and depth, Pignoli said.
Pitching
This year's pitching squad includes one sophomore and two promising freshmen. According to Pignoli, we have a very young pitching squad this season, but the pitchers looked good this fall. I expect them to help lead the Owls.
Sophomore Nanci Lima (7-15, 71 K, 2.38 era) returns for the Owls joining true freshmen Bari Lynn Pflueger (Allentown, Pa.) and Liz Naughton (Olyphant, Pa.). "During the fall season, our freshman pitchers looked great. I hope to see them do well against our stiff competition in the spring, Pignoli said.
Defense
The infield has three returning players including sophomore Katie Spencer at shortstop, juniors Christi Ragan on third base and Kendra Navarro on second base.
Sophomore Chrissy Pearson and seniors Amy Brode and Andrea Freels will add depth to the squad along with newcomer Ashley Caudill (Lebanon, Tenn.). Freels and Caudill are catchers.
The Owls made major changes in the defensive squad this season in order to improve their depth. We had areas that we had to reconstruct, and we feel pretty good with placing newcomers Theresa Walker (Phoenixville, Pa.) and Andrea Horton (LaMesa Calif.) in the lineup, Pignoli said. Freshman Marissa McDevitt (Olyphant, Pa.), and junior Holly Mahal (Minersville, Pa.), who is returning this season, will also be looked upon to help out the Owls defensively.
In addition, sophomore Erin Byrne and freshman Christine Harris, who were both injured last season, showed improvement in the infield during the fall season and will help the Owls this spring.
Offense
We feel real good about the offense this season, Pignoli said. The Owls have worked hard during the off season and are expected to be right on top of it this spring.
Solid IF Christi Ragan, will once again head up the attack along with Caudill who, according to Pignoli, looks promising behind the plate. Ragan batted a team-leading .292 in 40 games last season. Caudill showed a strong bat in the fall season. Pearson was second on the 1999 squad with a .268 average.
The Schedule
We've got one of the toughest non-league schedules in order to help us out in regional and postseason play. We hope the tough teams we play will help us out down the road, Pignoli said. I believe that in order to be the best we must play the best.
The Owls will participate in the Triangle Invitational and the Sonic Challenge in February. Temple travels once again to Tampa, Fla. for the South Florida Speedline Invitational Classic during spring break in March. Temple will host the Temple Cherry and White Tournament, a round-robin competition to be held on Temple's field, which will include Delaware and Long Island.
The Atlantic 10 Conference
Last year the Owls just missed qualifying for the A-10 tournament by a couple of percentage points and ended the season with a 9-7 A-10 record.
The challenge for 2000 is to improve upon that finish and contend for the automatic NCAA berth. Along with Temple and UMass, the nine team Atlantic 10 Conference for softball includes Fordham, La Salle, St. Bonaventure, Rhode Island, Virginia Tech, Dayton and St. Joseph's.
