2008 Woodie Awards
Softball looks for success without last season's 2 best players
Jared Gravette
Issue date: 2/14/08 Section: Sports
The Jacksonville State softball team enters the 2008 season with high hopes of regaining Ohio Valley Conference supremacy.
The Gamecocks bring back a slew of All-OVC performers from last year. However, they will not have the services of Daniela Pappano or Karla Pittman this season.
Pappano left JSU as the school's career leader in home runs, RBIs, hits, runs scored, walks and at bats after earning All-OVC honors in four consecutive years.
Pittman was arguably the OVC's best pitcher last year, but will miss the entire 2008 season with a leg injury.
"We just found out about 11 days ago that she is out for the season," JSU coach Jana McGinnis said. "She went in for what we thought may be some minor surgery. We thought at the most she might be out two weeks. But when they got in there, they found that she has a very serious injury to her femur bone.
"They said it would take her a year to rehab, so she is going to have to be redshirted. It's big anytime you lose a good pitcher like that, but hopefully good things can come from this. Hopefully somebody else will step up, and it will give somebody else a chance because pitching is key in this game.
Despite the losses of Pittman and Pappano, the Gamecocks return senior outfielder Rachel Fleming, senior designated hitter Alana Hicks, sophomore Chrissy O'Neal and sophomore Nikki Prier, all who earned second team All-OVC honors last season.
"I know that we return some good players," JSU coach Jana McGinnis said. "We did lose Daniella Pappano, who has re-written a lot of the offense record books. It's hard to replace a player like her. I think that we return a lot of veterans that were key in us having such success last year, and we've added some very good players."
One such player is Florida State transfer Kayla Collins, who should give the Gamecocks a much-needed boast from both a pitching and hitting standpoint.
With Pittman being sidelined for the entire season, the majority of the pitching duties appear to have been handed to junior Melissa Dowling and freshman Ashley Eliasson.
"We've got Ashley Eliasson, who is a pitcher and a freshman, who I think mentally wise is well beyond her years. She seems older mentally, and I think that is going to carry her a long way. That is going to be huge for us. I think she can help us as the season progresses."
If the Gamecocks are to regain the top spot in the OVC, they will have to find a way to unseat Tennessee Tech, who has won the conference tournament in each of the past two seasons.
"That's our first conference series, a three-game series at Tennessee Tech," McGinnis said. "That could be a huge difference-maker in the season if we can go in there and take two out of three."
"I told our girls that Tennessee Tech isn't the only school we have to focus on. After we play Tennessee Tech, we've still got eight other conference series to go. It would do us no good if we beat Tennessee Tech and then blow the others. We're going to take it one game at a time," McGinnis added.
JSU's season got started last weekend in the Bama Bash held at the University of Alabama. The Gamecocks defeated South Alabama twice but fell to both Alabama and Purdue.
"I have high hopes for this season. Our goal is the same as it always is. It's to win the tournament and go to regionals. And win regionals," McGinnis added. "I really like this team. This team works harder than any team we've had in a long time. They've got good attitude and seem to have good chemistry, so that will take you a long way."
Player to watch
Kayla Collins
It won't take long for Gamecock softball fans to notice Kayla Collins.
The Florida State transfer brings both a big bat and a live arm to Jacksonville State University and should have a big impact for the Gamecocks in 2008.
"Kayla Collins is not only a good pitcher, but she is probably a better hitter," JSU coach Jana McGinnis said.
Collins played two seasons for the Seminoles, but she decided to transfer to JSU after her sophomore season.
"Initially they (JSU) recruited me, and I came up here and I absolutely loved it," Collins said. "But it was always my dream to go to an in-state, big D-I school.
"I told coach McGinnis and coach Mark that I had already committed. They said, "You know, if it doesn't work out, you're always welcome to come here.' It didn't work out, so I remembered JSU," Collins added.
Collins enters the 2008 season as the only Gamecock to have NCAA tournament experience, and she is expecting big things from this group.
Jared Gravette is the assistant sports editor of The Chanticleer. He can be reached at (256) 782-5703 or at chantysports@gmail.com. You can read his weekly sports blog on at cocksports.blogspot.com.
The Gamecocks bring back a slew of All-OVC performers from last year. However, they will not have the services of Daniela Pappano or Karla Pittman this season.
Pappano left JSU as the school's career leader in home runs, RBIs, hits, runs scored, walks and at bats after earning All-OVC honors in four consecutive years.
Pittman was arguably the OVC's best pitcher last year, but will miss the entire 2008 season with a leg injury.
"We just found out about 11 days ago that she is out for the season," JSU coach Jana McGinnis said. "She went in for what we thought may be some minor surgery. We thought at the most she might be out two weeks. But when they got in there, they found that she has a very serious injury to her femur bone.
"They said it would take her a year to rehab, so she is going to have to be redshirted. It's big anytime you lose a good pitcher like that, but hopefully good things can come from this. Hopefully somebody else will step up, and it will give somebody else a chance because pitching is key in this game.
Despite the losses of Pittman and Pappano, the Gamecocks return senior outfielder Rachel Fleming, senior designated hitter Alana Hicks, sophomore Chrissy O'Neal and sophomore Nikki Prier, all who earned second team All-OVC honors last season.
"I know that we return some good players," JSU coach Jana McGinnis said. "We did lose Daniella Pappano, who has re-written a lot of the offense record books. It's hard to replace a player like her. I think that we return a lot of veterans that were key in us having such success last year, and we've added some very good players."
One such player is Florida State transfer Kayla Collins, who should give the Gamecocks a much-needed boast from both a pitching and hitting standpoint.
With Pittman being sidelined for the entire season, the majority of the pitching duties appear to have been handed to junior Melissa Dowling and freshman Ashley Eliasson.
"We've got Ashley Eliasson, who is a pitcher and a freshman, who I think mentally wise is well beyond her years. She seems older mentally, and I think that is going to carry her a long way. That is going to be huge for us. I think she can help us as the season progresses."
If the Gamecocks are to regain the top spot in the OVC, they will have to find a way to unseat Tennessee Tech, who has won the conference tournament in each of the past two seasons.
"That's our first conference series, a three-game series at Tennessee Tech," McGinnis said. "That could be a huge difference-maker in the season if we can go in there and take two out of three."
"I told our girls that Tennessee Tech isn't the only school we have to focus on. After we play Tennessee Tech, we've still got eight other conference series to go. It would do us no good if we beat Tennessee Tech and then blow the others. We're going to take it one game at a time," McGinnis added.
JSU's season got started last weekend in the Bama Bash held at the University of Alabama. The Gamecocks defeated South Alabama twice but fell to both Alabama and Purdue.
"I have high hopes for this season. Our goal is the same as it always is. It's to win the tournament and go to regionals. And win regionals," McGinnis added. "I really like this team. This team works harder than any team we've had in a long time. They've got good attitude and seem to have good chemistry, so that will take you a long way."
Player to watch
Kayla Collins
It won't take long for Gamecock softball fans to notice Kayla Collins.
The Florida State transfer brings both a big bat and a live arm to Jacksonville State University and should have a big impact for the Gamecocks in 2008.
"Kayla Collins is not only a good pitcher, but she is probably a better hitter," JSU coach Jana McGinnis said.
Collins played two seasons for the Seminoles, but she decided to transfer to JSU after her sophomore season.
"Initially they (JSU) recruited me, and I came up here and I absolutely loved it," Collins said. "But it was always my dream to go to an in-state, big D-I school.
"I told coach McGinnis and coach Mark that I had already committed. They said, "You know, if it doesn't work out, you're always welcome to come here.' It didn't work out, so I remembered JSU," Collins added.
Collins enters the 2008 season as the only Gamecock to have NCAA tournament experience, and she is expecting big things from this group.
Jared Gravette is the assistant sports editor of The Chanticleer. He can be reached at (256) 782-5703 or at chantysports@gmail.com. You can read his weekly sports blog on at cocksports.blogspot.com.
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