Shreveport – The Centenary softball program has released its 2023 schedule as the Ladies begin their regular season at home on Saturday, Feb. 11 with a non-conference doubleheader versus Texas A&M-Texarkana at the Centenary Softball Complex.
The Ladies are scheduled to play 39 regular-season games – 22 at home, 13 on the road, and four neutral-site contests. Centenary will play 21 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference games and 18 non-conference contests. The Maroon and White open conference play on March 18-19 at home against the University of St. Thomas. Centenary's first conference road series is set for April 1-2 at Trinity University.
Whitney Patterson enters her second season as head coach of the Ladies in 2023 after serving as interim head coach in 2022. She served as an assistant coach for the Ladies for seven seasons prior to being named interim coach. Patterson, a 2014 Centenary graduate with a degree in psychology, played for the Ladies for two seasons (2013 and 2014) as an infielder. She primarily worked with the outfielders and with the slap hitters, as well as the off-season weight and conditioning programs during her time as assistant coach.
Patterson started all 76 games she appeared in still ranks in the top-10 (Division III record book) for a season in at-bats (2013), doubles (2014), sacrifice hits (2014), and sacrifice flies (2014). She also is in the career top-10 for career doubles and sacrifice hits and flies. Patterson also appeared eight times in the circle with two starts during her senior season.
The Ladies finished the 2022 season 15-21 and 7-14 in SCAC play and made their sixth-consecutive appearance in the SCAC Tournament. Four Ladies earned spots on the 2022 All-SCAC Team and three of the four are back this season. Headlining the group of returners is sophomore RF Mackenzie Cox (Alexandria, La.), who was named First-Team All-SCAC as an outfielder, earning a spot on the First Team for the second season in a row. Junior SS/LF Kaylea Patridge (Las Vegas, Nev.) and junior CF Mallory Stout (Trinity, Texas) were each named Honorable-Mention All-SCAC. Cox was also named to the SCAC Championship All-Tournament Team and to the 2022 All-Louisiana Softball team, earning Honorable-Mention honors.
The Ladies had one of their best offensive seasons in the division III era (2012-present) as the Maroon and White posted top five or better single-season marks for batting average, on-base percentage, RBI, and slugging percentage. The Ladies also stole 56 bases and were only caught four times all season. Cox stole 35 and was only caught twice and became the program leader in stolen bases in a season and in a career in the division III era (2012-present) and now has an impressive 56 in 62 career attempts.
Heather Ivey enters her first season as assistant coach after serving as the volunteer assistant for the Ladies last season. 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.
The Ladies' home conference opponents in addition to St. Thomas are Texas Lutheran, Austin College, and Southwestern and will face Dallas and Schreiner on the road along with Trinity. Centenary will play four games in the Hendrix College Spring Fling Tournament on Feb. 18-19 in Conway, Ark. as the Ladies will face the host Warriors as well as Westminster (Mo.).
Centenary finishes the regular season at home April 29-30 versus Southwestern. The 2023 SCAC Softball Championship is set for May 5-7 in San Antonio with Trinity serving as the host.
See the Ladies' complete season schedule here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/sball/2022-23/schedule
Admission is FREE to all Centenary home athletic contests and Live stats and live video stream are available for all home contests as well. Please note that all dates and times are subject to change.
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