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BYU Softball to Officially Debut in California
By Amber Albrecht, BYU NewsNet (2/3)
Feb. 3, 2000
The BYU softball team is experiencing a lot of firsts this week. Besides competing in their first official game of the season in the Early Bird tournament in California this Friday and Saturday, Feb. 4 and 5, this is BYU's inaugural season as an NCAA Division 1 Softball team. In February last year the announcement was made that the softball team would be upgraded from club to varsity status. "I'm from Utah, and there had been a lot of talk in past years about BYU getting a team. It's been a big thing coming for a long time," Mindy Hanson, first baseman and co-captain of the team, said. "It is so exciting to finally have it here and to be a part of it." This is also a first for head coach Mary Kay Amicone. Amicone and her assistant coaches, Gordon Eakin and Lisa Hall, all from the University of Utah, were able to bring together top softball players from all over the nation in a matter of months. "For someone to be given the job in June and be able to assemble twenty players and have them this organized and this competitive in the span of eight months is incredible," said Eakin, the team's batting coach. "Amicone has done a tremendous job preparing this team, and the girls deserve credit as well for knowing that this is where they are supposed to be and for doing whatever it took to get here. For some of them it was a big sacrifice," Eakin said. The team played seven games together in the fall and ended up with a 5-2 record, but this weekend will be their first opportunity to play outdoors as a team. "We expect to be very competitive," Eakin said. "We have a lot of faith in the team we've assembled and we're going to go out and battle everybody and see what this first year brings." "The whole team is really excited and grateful that softball has been sanctioned," said co-captain Meghann Pricer. "A lot of people will look past us because we're new, but we hope to use that to our advantage and come up and bite some people." The team starts off Friday, Feb. 5 at 9 a.m. facing Sacramento State, and then plays San Jose that afternoon at 3. On Saturday the Cougars will take on 12th ranked Cal. Berkley in the morning and then end the tourney playing San Jose once again. "We have a very solid, well-rounded team," Eakin said. "We are looking for great speed from Liz Smith and Lindsey Hodgen. We also expect great leadership from our captains as well as from Jackie Ellis, who is a transfer from Oregon and has had Division 1 experience. "All our players are key, and with our defense and pitching, we should be tough," Eakin said. "Our pitching staff is really strong," said pitching coach Lisa Hall. "Meghann Pricer, co-captain of the team, is a transfer student from Arizona with a lot of speed. She tops anywhere from 64-66 mph, which is very fast from 43 feet." "We also have Maryon Dewitt, and she has a lot of movement on her ball. So we have great strengths with our starting two pitchers and they both have amazing talent," Hall said. Team members are excited for the chance to play the sport they love and be led by an impressive coaching staff at BYU. "Our coach is one in a million. Her personality and enthusiasm is what brought us all together," Hanson said. "She teaches us more about life on the softball field than anyone else. She's a great friend and an amazing person."
BYU will be on the road for nine straight weeks, but will play their first home game against the University of Utah on April 15.
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