LAS VEGAS, N.M. – The New Mexico Highlands University Softball Team kicks off the 2014 season Saturday (Feb. 1) at noon when it travels to Weatherford, Okla., to take on Southwestern Oklahoma State at noon. The teams will be playing a doubleheader.
"We are excited to go out and compete in the RMAC and look to continue to build the program," first-year head coach
Karin Gadberry said. "We are really young and we are looking to go out and be competitive and play fundamentally sound softball."
With only three new starters, the new-look Cowgirls will get tested early. Beginning on the road in the first weekend, Highlands will travel to Las Vegas, Nev., the second weekend to take part in the Desert Stinger. The Cowgirls will take on three teams who made the 2013 NCAA Division II Softball Tournament in Humboldt State, Hawai'i-Hilo and Dixie State.
Humboldt State finished last season in the NCAA Division II Softball College World Series and comes into the season ranked third.
"The non-conference schedule is tough," Gadberry explained. "The tournament in Las Vegas will be a really good test for us before conference. Then we make the trip over to Eastern New Mexico and then Oklahoma Panhandle comes here. We are going to go play at West Texas A&M, who was ranked seventh at the end of last season. It is a heavy road schedule this year."
Two other teams on the schedule made the NCAA Tournament in 2013 and are receiving votes in the 2014 preseason poll in Colorado School of Mines and West Texas A&M.
The Cowgirls were picked to finish 12th in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference this season, but Gadberry feels the conference is will be very competitive.
"I think the conference is wide open because I am not the only new coach in the conference. Colorado Mines and Metro State also have new coaches while CSU-Pueblo just promoted their interim coach. In reality, you have four new coaches in the conference and that changes a lot of things."
The Cowgirls have virtually an entire new team as they only return three starters in juniors
Jessica Brink and
Devon Paiz and senior
Dominique Padilla. Added to that, only Brink will stay in the same position as last year (right-handed pitcher).
Brink finished 2013 with an 11-17 record and a 5.46 ERA in 40 appearances (25 starts). She gave up 284 hits and 190 runs (143 earned) in 183.1 innings pitched while striking out 108.
"We basically only have three starters returning so that helps us because other teams do not know anything about us," Gadberry noted.
As far as the other positions, Gadberry is not sure what to expect but is just looking for sound softball.
"With pitching, we have worked a lot to decrease our ERA from last year. We are hoping that with more than one pitcher, we will be able to throw a variety of different looks. We will look very different. We have a couple of new catchers and we will not try to be flashy, just play solid defense all around the diamond. We are potentially going to have a whole new infield. The outfield will be new as well."
The Sunday (Feb. 2) softball games between Southwestern Oklahoma and New Mexico Highlands have been cancelled.
