The 2017 softball season brings along high expectations for the Ashland University softball team. The Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Softball Preseason Coaches’ Poll that was released on Feb. 7, 2017 picked the Eagles to finish third in the conference this season.

The Eagles finished the 2016 season with a 29-23-1 overall record and a GLIAC record of 15-12-1, finishing in fifth place. The Eagles lost to Wayne State in the championship game in the conference tournament.  

After the end of last season, the team lost five seniors. Sarah Alley, Brittany Flanigan, Bri Buckley, Shelbie Prince, and Jen Moore were among those who graduated. Moore set the bar high during her senior year by earning the first-team Division II All-Midwest Region honors. Other honors distributed to the seniors were two earning All- GLIAC honors.

Stepping up to the plate to lead the team this year are the five seniors, Ally Farrah, Jenny Raguz, Alexis Van Horn, Kalene Freshour, and Audrey Manahan. Freshour is the team’s only returning player that has played in all 102 games for the past two seasons. Van Horn also lead the team in home runs last season. Farrah lead the team last season with 64 hits and 19 walks while Raguz was the only person to record two doubles, two triples, and two home runs.

“Defensively we may seem like a young team, but we still have lots of experience in key positions,” Freshour said. “For example Hannah Stroe now has a year under her belt in the circle, Lex has played short for a full season with us, Ally and Jenny have the outfield, and Kylie and Paige may be new to Ashland this year but have already had a year exposure to collegiate softball. I think that is the perfect mix of new and returning players and we will just feed off of each other. We all know we have each other’s backs, which is also important.”

Last season the team finished fifth in the GLIAC’s regular season standings. The Eagles made it to the GLIAC Tournament Championship against the Wayne State Warriors but lost 5-1, ending their season as runner-ups. 

Head coach Sheilah Gulas is looking to move up in the GLIAC rankings from last year with their strong hitters, fielders, and pitchers. The team is looking forward to finishing above the third place pick for them. Even though the start of the season is the first priority of Gulas, the end of the season has two meanings for her. Gulas announced her retirement after 31- years of being a head softball coach and 21 years with the Eagles. She plans to retire after the 2017 season is over. 

The Eagles kicked off their season with the Lewis University Flyers 2017 Dome Invitational Tournament in Illinois on Feb.24. The first game double header was against William Jewell and Lewis. The first game against William Jewell ended with a 7-1 loss. The game against Lewis also ended in a loss with a score of 10-6. The Lewis Flyers scored seven of their 10 runs in the second inning to which the Eagles came back scoring their six runs in the bottom of the second and third innings.

Day 2 of the tournament brought a 4-3 victory over Lindenwood. The victory brought Coach Gulas her 900th career win.

 After being down 3-2, it was freshman Dayna Denner’s single that allowed senior Ally Farrah to run home for a walk-off win. The second game against Illinois-Springfield brought a back-to-back victory with the Eagles winning 5-2.

The final day of the tournament was a match against Wisconsin-Parkside that ended in a close 5-4 loss. 

The Eagles took the lead early in the game with a 2-0 lead in the first inning, but Wisconsin-Parkside was able to battle back and hand the Eagles their third loss.

The Eagles head down to Florida next to play in the annual Florida spring break trip starting on March 5, 2017 against Southern Indiana and Southern Minnesota State.