2024 Season Preview: Centenary Softball

Shreveport – High expectations.

Centenary head softball coach Whitney Patterson, a tireless worker and always optimistic, shares the high expectations for her 2024 Ladies squad just as her fellow Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference coaches do.

The Ladies' journey begins on Friday afternoon with a non-conference doubleheader at Millsaps College in Jackson, Miss. set for 2 and 4 p.m.

The Ladies were picked to finish fifth in the league this season in the preseason poll released last month, their highest predicted finish in five seasons since the 2020 Ladies' squad was picked to finish fourth in a season ultimately cut short due to COVID-19.

Centenary, one of just two league programs to win at least one SCAC Tournament game in the last five tournaments, received 32 total points. The Ladies are also the first SCAC team in four seasons to defeat conference and national power Texas Lutheran as they recorded a 7-6 home win over the No. 4 Bulldogs on March 25 last season.

The Ladies had one of their most successful campaigns in the division III era (2012-present) last season as they finished fourth in the conference after being picked to finish sixth in the preseason poll, finishing at 18-24 overall and 12-9 in league play. The Ladies tied the D3-era single-season record for conference wins (12). Centenary finished in the top five in the SCAC in hitting, pitching, and fielding and placed seven players on the all-conference team.

"I'm very excited to get this season underway," said Patterson. "We are returning the vast majority of our players from last season's team which is exciting and important."

"We have added 10 newcomers to the roster who are ready to step into some big roles for us this season. Of those 10, four are transfers who add experience to our roster. Our four seniors also play a vital role in the experience they bring and the leadership of this team."

Heather Ivey enters her second season as assistant coach for the Ladies after serving as the volunteer assistant for the Ladies in 2022. Ivey, a Shreveport native, was a standout second baseman at Southwood High School who earned all-district honors. She went on to play collegiately at NCAA Division II Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Ark. In 2008, she was selected to go play in Holland on the USA International Team.

Top Returners:

Senior RF Mackenzie Cox (Alexandria, La.) earned First-Team All-SCAC honors for the third-straight season and the speedster ranked 36^th nationally in stolen bases with 27 in 30 attempts. She Led the conference in triples (six) and tied for 25^th nationally, recorded 12 multi-hit games and in 125 at-bats she only struck out 14 times while drawing 10 walks. She tied for seventh in conference in runs scored and hit .362 in conference games with a .409 OBP and slugged .500 with five extra-base hits.

Junior UT Viviana Rivero (Redondo Beach, Calif.) followed up her impressive 2022 rookie season with another solid campaign to earn Honorable-Mention All-SCAC honors. She tied for the team lead in home runs and ranked in the top 10 in the conference. Rivero ranked second on team in RBI, third in runs scored, and fourth in hits. She recorded eight multi-hit games including a five-hit game and a pair of 3-hit games. She hit for the cycle and went 5-5 with four RBI in a 7-6 win over Howard Payne on April 4.

Sophomore 2B Catherine Stokes (Natchitoches, La.) turned in a fantastic rookie season as she ranked earned Honorable-Mention All-SCAC honors after she ranked first on the team in games played and at-bats, third in doubles and hits, fourth in RBI, and fifth in runs scored. In a team-high 138 AB, she only struck out four times compared to 14 walks. She recorded 11 multi-hit performances and finished with a perfect 1.000 fielding % as she did not commit an error in 205 total chances with 107 putouts, 98 assists, and turned eight double plays. Stokes was also named to the 2023 SCAC All-Sportsmanship Team.

Junior P Anna Scarbrock (Alexandria, La.) was one of the top pitchers in the conference as she earned Honorable-Mention All-SCAC honors as she ranked in the top 10 in seven different statistical categories. She only walked 18 batters all season and did not walk a batter in her final 9.1 innings of the season. Scarbrock pitched a career-high 11 innings in a 6-5 win over Dallas on April 8.

Senior CF Mallory Stout (Trinity, Texas) and sophomore C/3B Jaeden Thrasher (Forney, Texas) each also earned named Honorable-Mention All-SCAC honors. Stout had a conference-leading 18 walks during the regular season and played great defense as she committed just one error all season to finish with a .980 fielding % and threw multiple runners out at home. Thrasher tied for the team lead in homers with four and had a team-high 12 doubles. She finished third on the team in RBI (24) and also played great defense, as she threw out nine runners attempting to steal, tied for the most in the conference.

Sophomore IF Brooke Sandefur (Denham Springs, La.) played in 30 games and hit .240 with a .374 on-base percentage and slugged .280. She had 18 hits and scored 16 runs in 75 at-bats and led the conference in HBP with 12. Sandefur posted three doubles, nine RBI, and five stolen bases, and had three multi-hit games and two multi-RBI games along with seven sacrifice hits and 21 total bases.

Senior IF/OF Isabelle Dominguez (Newark, Calif.) played in 35 games last season and in 90 at-bats, she posted impressive offensive numbers as she hit .356 (second on team) with a .402 on-base percentage (third on team) and slugged .489 (second on team). She had 32 hits fifth on team) with 12 RBI, 14 runs scored, six walks and only struck out seven times. She had 44 total bases and four sacrifice hits and was second on the team with two home runs and third on team with six doubles. Dominguez finished with a .984 fielding percentage as she committed just four errors in 249 total chances. She also recorded nine multi-hit games highlighted by a season-high three in an 18-2 win against Austin College on April 16 in which she finished 3-4 with three runs scored and an RBI.

Sophomore P/UT Abigail Hodgson (Georgetown, Texas) was a two-way player as a rookie as she played in 28 games and hit .303 with a .410 on-base percentage and slugged .364 and was also one of the Ladies' pitchers, making 14 appearances in the circle with four starts. She had 10 hits and five RBI with a pair of doubles, three runs scored, and three walks. She had 12 total bases and was hit by a pitch three times (tied for second-most on team), and had a pair of multi-hit games. In the circle she finished 1-6 with a complete game and a team-leading 3.11 ERA as she allowed 27 runs (22 earned) and 48 hits in 47.1 innings pitched with 16 walks and 15 strikeouts.

Other Notable Returners:

Junior UT Alyssa Akers (Maurice, La.) - Hit .219 with a .286 on-base percentage and slugged .297 in 22 games and 64 at-bats. She had 14 hits, 13 RBI, 19 total bases a home run, and two doubles.

Senior IF Mackenzie Clark (Upland, Calif.) – Finished with a .318 OBP and had four hits and one RBI in 18 at-bats with three walks, three runs scored, and a pair of stolen bases.

Pitching Staff:

Sophomore P Alexis Roach (Pineville, La.) and sophomore P Emma Crow (Krotz Springs, La.) are both back after solid rookie seasons and join Scarbrock and Hodgson to form a dependable pitching staff that will be joined by junior LHP/IF Emma Shepherd (Athens, La.).

Roach made the second-most starts of any Ladies' pitcher in her rookie season as she finished 5-4 with a 3.98 ERA in 16 appearances and 14 starts. She threw six complete games (second on team) and her 77.1 innings pitched ranked second on the team as did her number of appearances and wins. She allowed 50 runs (44 earned) with 43 walks and 31 strikeouts (second on team) and threw a season-high seven innings six times and tossed a pair of shutouts while her season-high in strikeouts was six against LeTourneau on March 28. She earned her first collegiate win in historic fashion on March 25 at home against Texas Lutheran as she started and tossed her first-career complete game as she allowed six runs, five earned, and seven hits in her seven innings of work as she walked four and struck out three in the Ladies' thrilling 7-6 win over the nationally-ranked Bulldogs.

Crow appeared in 16 games and made three starts as a rookie as she finished with a 3-2 record and a 4.95 ERA. She worked 35.1 innings and allowed 51 hits, 37 runs (25 earned) with 23 walks and six strikeouts. Crow pitched one complete game, on April 16 against Austin College as she allowed just two unearned runs and five hits in her five innings of work of an 18-2 Ladies' blowout win. She pitched a season-high six innings in a 5-2 win over Millsaps on Feb. 21 as she came in the game as a reliever and allowed just three hits and an unearned run with a walk and a strikeout.

As Patterson mentioned, ten new faces join the roster this season. In addition to the two-way player Emma Shepherd, three sophomores – UT River Boultinghouse (Saint Gabriel, La.), RHP Riley Myers (Shreveport, La.), and IF Morgan Dawson (Natchitoches, La.)  and six freshmen – OF Caila Baldwin (Gretna, La.), UT Janae Bland (Livingston, Texas), IF Mandy Hoback (Wylie, Texas), OF Alexis Sanchez (Houston, Texas), OF Noelle Sandmann (Huntsville, Texas), and OF Taylor Good (Flower Mound, Texas).

Schedule:

The Ladies are scheduled to play 38 regular-season games – 21 conference contests and 17 non-conference matchups. Centenary will play 18 games at home and 20 road/neutral contests.

Centenary will face the Belhaven University Blazers in a non-conference DH on Tuesday, Feb. 13 and then face Hardin-Simmons University on Feb. 16 to open its home schedule. The Ladies' early-season schedule is home-friendly as they will play 12 of their first 18 in Shreveport.

The Ladies' first conference series is at home against the University of Dallas March 16-17 and they will play Austin College on the road March 23-24 for their first league road series in Sherman, Texas. The Ladies will finish the regular season at home April 27-28 against Trinity.

Centenary faces Austin College, Southwestern, Texas Lutheran, and St. Thomas on the road in SCAC play and in addition to playing Dallas and Trinity at home the Maroon and White will also play host to Schreiner.

The 2024 SCAC Softball Tournament, a double-elimination event, will be held May 3-5 on the campus of Texas Lutheran University in Seguin, double-elimination

Check out the complete preseason SCAC poll here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/sball/2023-24/releases/20240130lonolp   

See the complete Ladies' season schedule here:  https://centenary.prestosports.com/sports/sball/2023-24/schedule  

Admission is FREE to all Centenary home athletic contests. Live stats and live video stream are available for all Centenary home contests.

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