TACOMA, Wash. – With just six upperclassmen on the roster, two of which being new to the program as junior college transfers, the Pacific Lutheran University softball team will have a new look under second-year head coach Traci Barrett.
"This is a much more athletic team," said Traci Barrett. "We will advance bases better and play better defense. We've lost a lot of power in our lineup, so we will need to use all of offensive tools. We're trying to find the right pieces to put together. I could see parts of our lineup continually moving around because our depth hasn't separated itself yet."
The Lutes were picked to finish fifth in the preseason Northwest Conference Coaches' Poll after a 24-17 campaign in 2019.
In the circle will be the one area where PLU will see some recognizable faces. Junior Kennedy Robillard returns to lead the group, while sophomores Z Ellis and Marley Dyer will be key pieces to the mix. Freshman Kamryn Adkins has also impressed in her first preseason.
"Kennedy looks really good in the circle right now," said Barrett. "She's coming into her own and is learning what it takes to get her through a week."
Robillard led the Lutes to 14 of their 24 wins in her sophomore campaign, tossing a team-high 126.2 innings and chucking 13 complete games in her 21 starts. Ellis started 20 games as a freshman last spring looks to take a step forward for PLU. Dyer made 13 relief appearances last year and should be counted on for more than 17.1 innings in 2020. Cassidy Conrad should also get some innings for PLU this spring.
The other half of the battery will be manned by a pair of freshman, Anna Foster and Mikayla Chun. 'Foss' may also get some time at first base as she is one of just two left-handed hitters on the roster. Chun comes to PLU from Honolulu, while Foster was recruited out of Stanwood.
The outfield spots are still hotly contested going into the season's first road trip in California. Dyer, Sydney Victor, Erin McGrath, Nicole Manuel, Shanelle Lum, Raynna Mekaru and Elise Freund are all vying for time.
Dyer gained valuable experience last year as she played in 35 games, making 15 starts and hitting .324 at the plate. Her OPS of .904 was topped only by fellow classmate Mari Foster amongst this year's returners. Manuel, McGrath, Mekaru, Freund and Victor all made over 10 starts last season, with Victor being the top hitter with a .292 average in 2019. Lum, the newcomer of the group, transferred to PLU from Edmonds Community College.
The infield will have a brand-new look in 2020. Freshman Cailey Collado is the top candidate in the early going at shortstop, but can play both middle infield positions. The Huntington Beach, Calif. native returns home this weekend, while it is likely that Mari Foster will join her on the left side of the infield. The 2018 Gatorade Player of the Year for the state of Hawaii has put in a lot of work in the offseason and had an OPS of over 1.000 as a freshman in 24 games and produced a .370 average with seven extra-base hits.
"It's been a month of practice and in all of my years here we've never had a month of practice," said Barrett. "It's only been about two and a half weeks and then we go play. We needed the month and we know that we're going to see a lot of things this weekend that we can get back to working on."
This weekend, the Lutes will travel to the University of La Verne, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges and California Lutheran University. PLU will two games against each opponent, beginning with the Leopards tomorrow at 12:00 p.m.
