High 5
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Five things to watch: Holy Cross Softball

NEW COACHING STAFF

Kimberly Stiles enters her first year as the head coach of the softball program and is the 10th head coach in program history. She comes to The Hill following a five-year stint as head coach at the University of Charleston, posting a 141-83 record while coaching four players to earn first team All-Mountain East honors and two earning National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-Atlantic Region honors. Joining Stiles as an assistant coach is Lindsay Mayer, also in her first season after three years as an assistant at Hofstra. With the new coaching staff, the Crusaders are hoping to make the conference tournament for the first time since 2017.

  NELSON NAMED PRESEASON PITCHER OF THE YEAR

Senior Kelly Nelson was selected as the Patriot League Preseason Pitcher of the Year. Nelson, an NFCA All-Northeast Region second team selection a year ago, posted a 1.84 earned-run average across 106.2 innings and 20 appearances. The two-time Patriot League second team selection (2019, 2021) held opponents to a .226 batting average, notching 120 strikeouts while recording six wins, eight complete games, and four shutouts. The last time a Crusader won Pitcher of the Year was when Genoa Grosch did so in 1999.

 

 

MILESTONE WATCH

Two team records have a chance at being broken this season. Nelson has accumulated 370 career strikeouts and needs 210 more to pass Grosch (579) for the most in program history while senior catcher Erin Bengston has 25 career doubles – tied for eighth-most all-time – and needs 15 more two-baggers to pass Keeley Seniuk’s program-record mark of 39.

 

HEY, BATTER, BATTER

Senior Erin Bengston looks to carry over her team-leading .299 batting average from last season into her senior year. Bengston paced the team in slugging percentage (.468), hits (23) and RBI (18) while senior Jessie Nagel had a team-best nine runs scored and three home runs.

A FULL SLATE OF GAMES

After having the past two seasons shortened by COVID-19, the team returns to action in a big way, playing 55 games with trips to South Carolina, Florida, and New Jersey. The 37 game non-conference schedule features showdowns with 12 different conferences and two NCAA tournament teams from a year ago, including 2021 NCAA runner-up, nationally-ranked Florida State. They also play power five opponent Rutgers in March. 15 home contests are set to be played on Freshman Field in Worcester. 

2022 Schedule
2022 Roster

GO CROSS GO!