Tournament Central

LEADING OFF
* The Kennesaw State softball team makes its 2018 home debut this weekend when it hosts the Bobbie Bailey Memorial Tournament at Bailey Park beginning Friday. All games involving the Owls will be streamed live on YouTube.
* The tournament opens with Florida A&M and Morehead State playing a doubleheader beginning at 12 p.m. before Kennesaw State and Rutgers conclude the day with a twin bill starting at 5 p.m. The tournament continues with four games on Saturday and two on Sunday.
* The Owls (2-3) opened their season last weekend at the Orange Blossom Tournament in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. KSU posted wins over Bethune-Cookman (9-7) and LIU Brooklyn (10-0), and fell to Hofstra (8-0), Quinnipiac (5-4, 9 inn.) and Northern Iowa (8-0).
* The 2018 season marks the second under head coach Pete D'Amour, who took the reins on Sept. 16, 2016, and guided Kennesaw State to a 40-20 record and postseason appearance in 2017. The Owls finished second in the ASUN Conference and made their first postseason showing at the NCAA Division I level, finishing third in the inaugural National Invitational Softball Championship. KSU was ranked No. 47 nationally in the final RPI rankings.
* Kennesaw State returns 13 letter winners from a year ago and has added 11 newcomers to the roster.
* The 2018 roster is highlighted by sophomore pitcher Alley Cutting (2017 ASUN Conference Freshman of the Year) and outfielders Olivia Tamewitz, Hannah Thomason and Noelle Winkles, who earned All-ASUN Conference second team honors a year ago. Cutting was selected ASUN Preseason Co-Pitcher of the Year in a vote by the league coaches.
 
BOBBIE BAILEY MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

Friday, February 23
12 p.m.	Florida A&M vs. Morehead State (DH)
5 p.m.	Kennesaw State vs. Rutgers (DH)
Saturday, February 24
12 p.m.	Rutgers vs. Florida A&M (DH)
5 p.m.	Kennesaw State vs. Morehead State (DH)
Sunday, February 25
10 a.m.	Morehead State vs. Rutgers
12:30 p.m.	Kennesaw State vs. Florida A&M

ORANGE BLOSSOM TOURNAMENT FIELD
* Florida A&M: The Rattlers enter the weekend 3-8 after falling in a doubleheader (3-0, 11-3) to Mercer on Wednesday. FAMU was batting .205 as a team and was led by Tyra Bowers, who was batting .323 (10-for-31). Kyaira Brown leads the Rattlers in the circle, posting a 1-3 record and 4.20 ERA.
* Morehead State: The Eagles begin the weekend with a 6-2 record and are coming off an 8-0 loss to James Madison in the final game of the Campbell Stampede last weekend in Buies Creek, N.C. Morehead State is batting .260 as a team and has four players batting .300 or better. Junior Allison Rager leads the Eagles with a .480 average (12-for-25) and seven RBIs. Morehead State has a 2.58 team ERA and is led in the circle by senior left-hander Chelsea McManaway, who has posted a 4-1 record, 1.83 ERA and four complete games in five starts.
* Rutgers: The Scarlet Knights open the weekend with a 3-6 record and are coming off a 1-4 record at the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Rutgers' lone victory was a 4-3, eight-inning win over Houston to conclude the tournament after falling to Texas (2-0), No. 3 Oregon (10-0) and No. 15 Ole Miss (9-1). The Scarlet Knights are batting .232 as a team and have three players hitting .300 or better. Freshman Erin Collins and sophomore Nicole Bowman lead the team with a .350 average (7-for-20). Senior Rebecca Hall tops the club with two home runs and nine RBIs. Rutgers has recorded a 5.28 ERA. Junior Whitney Jones leads the Scarlet Knights with a 1-3 record, 2.92 ERA and five complete games in 24.0 innings of work.  

KENNESAW STATE VERSUS THE FIELD
* Florida A&M: Sunday's game will mark the first meeting between Florida A&M and Kennesaw State.
* Morehead State: The Owls lead the all-time series, 3-1. The two programs last met last season during the Phyllis Rafter Memorial Tournament in Kennesaw, and the teams split a pair of games. The Eagles recorded a 6-0 victory before the Owls bounced back to post a 9-0 win.
* Rutgers: The Owls lead the all-time series, 1-0. The two teams first met during the 2016 Phyllis Rafter Memorial Tournament and Kennesaw State registered a 4-2 victory.
 
WEEK IN REVIEW
The Owls opened their 2018 season last weekend at the Orange Blossom Tournament and recorded a 2-3 record. Freshman Patricia Awald highlighted the KSU offense as she batted .385 (5-for-13) with three runs scored and five RBIs. Sophomore Olivia Tamewtiz also had a productive opening weekend as she batted .333 (5-for-15) with two runs scored and a triple. In the circle, sophomore transfer Abby Deane posted a 2-0 record and 1.40 ERA in three appearances. She worked 10 innings, allowed six hits, two earned runs, walked one and struck out four. Junior transfer Hailey Andrews made her KSU debut versus Quinnipiac and worked four innings, allowed three hits, an unearned run, walked three and struck out one.
 
ASUN PRESEASON COACHES POLL
Coming off a 40-win season that included a postseason berth plus a solid nucleus returning, Kennesaw State was picked to finish first in the 2018 ASUN Conference Softball Preseason Coaches' Poll that was released on Jan. 17. The Owls, who received four first-place votes and totaled 46 points to finish ahead of defending conference champion USC Upstate (43 points, 2 first-place votes), garnered the top spot in the poll for the first time since joining the ASUN Conference prior to the 2006 season. KSU was ranked second in the preseason coaches' poll on three different occasions (2007, 2008, 2013).
 
ASUN Preseason Rankings

Rank	Team (First Place Votes)	Votes
1.	Kennesaw State (4)	46
2.	USC Upstate (2)	43
3.	Florida Gulf Coast (1)	31
4.	Lipscomb	29
5.	North Florida	23
6.	Jacksonville	13
7.	Stetson	11

CUTTING TABBED ASUN PRESEASON CO-PITCHER OF THE YEAR
Sophomore Alley Cutting was named ASUN Preseason Co-Pitcher of the Year, along with Lipscomb's Mandy Jordan, and selected to the all-conference team. She was also named the ASUN's Preseason Pitcher of the Year in a vote by the fans. The Owls right-hander posted a 20-10 record, 2.19 ERA, 16 complete games and two saves while making 38 appearances, including 31 starts. She worked 201 1/3 innings, allowed 63 earned runs, walked 49 and struck out 186 batters en route to earning ASUN Freshman of The Year and first team all-conference honors.
 
SOLID NUCLEUS RETURNS IN 2018
Including Alley Cutting, the Owls return five players who earned ASUN Conference accolades in 2017. Senior Noelle Winkles (.360, 8 HR, 41 RBI), junior Hannah Thomason (.354, 47 R, 33 SB) and sophomore Olivia Tamewitz (.342, 31 RBI, 19 SB), who earned second team All-ASUN Conference recognition a year ago, are back to form a talented outfield, while sophomore utility player Katey Lynch (.285, 4 HR, 28 RBI) also returns after garnering all-freshman team honors.
 
IN THE BATTER'S BOX
Led by ASUN Conference Player of the Year and senior Courtney Sutter, the Owls led the ASUN Conference in nine offensive categories last year, including runs (302), hits (505), doubles (83), triples (19), home runs (45), RBIs (270), total bases (761), batting average (.303) and slugging percentage (.456). In addition, KSU ranked among the top 50 nationally in batting average.
 
IN THE CIRCLE
The Owls ranked third in the ASUN Conference with a 2.40 ERA, while freshman Alley Cutting finished third in the conference in wins (20) and strikeouts (186), and fifth in ERA (2.19), while junior Abbigail Green tied for the conference lead with four saves.
 
HEAD COACH PETE D'AMOUR
* Head coach Pete D'Amour enters his second season as Kennesaw State head coach after spending the prior 10 seasons at the University of Missouri.
* In his first season guiding the Owls, D'Amour led KSU to 40-20 overall record National Invitational Softball Championship Region 5 title and a No. 47 ranking in the final RPI rankings.
* While at Mizzou, D'Amour helped the Tigers post a 453-154 (.746) record, advance to three Women's College World Series (2009, 2010, 2011), reach eight NCAA Division I Super Regionals, and participate in 10 NCAA Regionals.
* During D'Amour's tenure, Missouri won two Big 12 Conference championships and earned 10 straight Top 20 national rankings.
* Primarily responsible for working with the pitchers and catchers, D'Amour watched Tigers pitcher throw 11 no-hitters, while mentoring 11 All-Americans, two SEC Freshen of the Year, three conference Pitchers of the Year, a national earned-run average leader, and a Defensive Player of the Year. 
 
UP NEXT
Following the Bailey Memorial Tournament, the Owls will be back in action on Wednesday (Feb. 28) when they travel to Atlanta to take on Georgia Tech. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.

To keep up with the latest Kennesaw State softball news follow the team on Twitter @KSUOwlNation and @KSUOwlsSB or by liking Kennesaw State University on Facebook. You can also follow head coach Pete D'Amour at @KSUSBCoach.
 
To learn more about The Owls Fund visit www.ksuowls.com/theowlsfund.
 

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