Posted: Mar 04, 2021
This Week for SHU Softball
Friday, March 5
at Midway Eagles
4/6 PM | Midway, Ky. | William G. Clark Memorial Field
Saturday, March 6
at Indiana Southeast Grenadiers
1/3 PM | New Albany, Ind. | Koetter Sports Softball Complex
Upcoming for the Saints: The Siena Heights softball team kicks off the 2021 season with two road doubleheaders. The first one is against Midway in Kentucky on Friday. On Saturday, the Saints will travel to Indiana to face Indiana Southeast.
Head Coach: Laura Klutsarits enters her 16th season with the Saints. Klutsarits has the most wins in program history with 308. She achieved her 300th win in the WHAC tournament semifinals with a 5-3 win over Indiana Tech.
Defending Champions: The Saints are the defending WHAC Tournament champions as they won the 2019 championship. Siena used wins over Cleary (4-0), Indiana Tech (5-3), and UNOH (6-4) to win the title.
On Opening Day: The Saints are 6-8 since 2014 in opening day games. This will be the first time in that time span that Siena Heights will not open the season on a Spring Break trip.
Experience 2020: Eight first-year players including five freshmen and three transfers return to the Saints after playing in at least a quarter of the 2020 season.
Four of the returning SHU players played in all 12 games in the 2020 season: Senior Hailey Rose, Juniors Sam Hill, Lily Guerra, and Kelsey Uhl. Senior Tori Harding played in 10 games last year. Junior Maddie Vansaw played in six games last year. Sophomores Sam Spicer (8), Janelle Krueger (8), Maddie Herrera (6).
WHAC Coaches' Preseason Poll: The Siena Heights softball team was chosen to finish seventh in the 2021 Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) Coaches' Preseason Poll.
The preseason poll is voted on by the coaches in the league who rank the teams in the league from 1-12. 12 points are given to the team at the top of the list, 11 points to the second-ranked team, and so on to determine the order of the poll.
Madonna sits atop the poll after finishing with 141 points and nine of the 12 first-place votes. Aquinas received two first-place votes for 120 points to take the second-place slot. The final first-place tally went to UNOH who sits third with 111 points. Lawrence Tech (103 pts.), Concordia (Mich.) (88 pts.), and Indiana Tech (80 pts.) claimed fourth, fifth, and sixth in the poll. The Saints claimed seventh with 77 points while Cleary sat in eighth with 72. UM-Dearborn (62) and Lourdes (33) were ninth and 10th. Rochester (31) and Cornerstone (18) rounded out the poll in the final two spots.
Season Outlook: The Saints have 11 doubleheaders to start the season in the month of March. The first two are against Midway and Indiana Southeast on the opening weekend, March 5 and 6. Four additional road games follow. The first is against Health Sciences and Pharmacy (March 12), then Hannibal-LaGrange (March 13). The following week is Spring Arbor (March 17) and Carlow (March 20). The Final road doubleheader takes place on March 21 at Point Park before Siena Heights opens up at home in a doubleheader against crosstown rival, Adrian College on March 24. Conference play starts next with a home doubleheader versus Madonna on March 27. March is finished off with a road doubleheader at Calumet St. Joseph (March 30) and home games against IU-South Bend on the 31st.
The regular season finishes in April with 10 matchups, all doubleheaders. First is St. Francis (Ill.) at home on the 1st. The Saints travel to UNOH on the third and Lourdes on the seventh. Cornerstone visits Adrian on the 10th and Aquinas comes the following day on the 11th. Rochester finishes a three-day homestand on the 14th before Siena hits the road for three straight starting on the 17th against Indiana Tech. On April 18, SHU faces Concordia (Mich.) and the 24th is at Lawrence Tech. The final matchup of the year is on April 25th against Cleary.
WHAC Awards 2020
2020 NAIA Scholar-Team
All-Academic
Jordan Bianchi, Taylor Mowery, Erika Schwartz, Lauren Valdez
NAIA Scholar-Athletes
Schwartz, Maddie Vansaw.
