St. John's University Athletics
2013 Red Storm Softball Season Outlook
2/6/2013 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Feb. 6, 2013
- 2013 Schedule
- 2013 Schedule (PDF)
- Amy Kvilhaug previews the 2013 schedule
- Softball on Twitter
- Eye of the Storm Blog
- Join The STJ Softball Alumni Database
- Join The STJ Softball Mailing List
QUEENS, N.Y. - Coming off one of the most successful campaigns in program history, the St. John's softball team will look to make it back to the BIG EAST Championship after reaching the semifinals of the 2012 conference tournament.
"We are all really excited for 2013 to get underway," head coach Amy Kvilhaug said. "The intangible keys to our success this year are confidence, remaining injury free through smart preparation and care of our bodies, understanding individual roles, picking one another up, and having consistency in our behavior, attitude and actions. We are very big on doing the little things consistently."
Entering the seventh year of the Kvilhaug Era, the Red Storm will be relying on its veteran leadership to combine with a talented group of newcomers to face a schedule that features 30 games against teams that made the 2012 postseason. St. John's was picked in the preseason poll by the BIG EAST's coaches to make consecutive trips to the conference tournament for just the second time in school history.
"The tangible keys to our success this season will start in the circle. We are going to need to rely on talent and experience to lead the way for us," Kvilhaug said. "Situational hitting and manufacturing runs has been one of our main focal points all year long heading into the spring. Defense is important to the success of any program, and aside from working on situational plays and fundamentals, we have concentrated on continual and productive communication and focus. Essentially we will need to take games one pitch, one out, and one inning at a time. Our team has really put the work in over the last few months and are very ready to begin competing."
Pitching
The pitching staff is expected to be one of the biggest strengths of the 2013 Red Storm squad, as the team returns all three members of the 2012 staff. Headlining the returners is junior Ashley Beza, who etched her name into St. John's history with a variety of top-10 single season performances. Beza compiled 40 appearances, the second-most in St. John's history, 14 wins, the seventh-most in St. John's history, and 160 strikeouts, the sixth-most in St. John's history.
Joining Beza will be sophomore Francesca Carrullo and junior Aleshia Link. Carrullo is also in the STJ record books with 33 appearances of her own in 2012, the ninth-most in school history, en route to seven wins.
The Red Storm will add highly-touted freshman Tori Free to the rotation. After setting school records for wins, ERA, strikeouts, shutouts and no-hitters at Luverne High School in Luverne, Ala., Free is expected to challenge Beza for the top spot in the 2013 rotation.
Outfield
The Red Storm outfield features speed and athleticism at every position with a platoon of talent vying for three spots. The most experienced players in terms of starts are sophomores MacKenna Neuroth and Ellen Czuba, who excelled defensively at the corner outfield positions in 2012. Junior Kelsey Moyer also played in 48 games in 2012 with 24 starts and has the speed and versatility to play all three outfield positions.
Another freshman looking to make an early impact will be Yvonne Rericha, a speedy slapper who hit .557 as a senior at Timberline High School. Rericha, who was a four-time all-conference selection and a three-time team MVP, is expected to compete for a spot in the starting lineup.
Also adding to the outfield depth will be senior Summer Comstock and freshman Taylor Hill. Comstock, who suffered a season-ending injury against USF, will miss the first weekend of action, but is expected to return in mid-February.
The group will be looking to make up for the loss of 2012 All-BIG EAST Second Team selection Kristy Cady.
Infield
The infield is one of the defensive strengths of the 2013 Red Storm squad, and one of the deepest areas of the lineup. Returning to the infield will be senior captain Chrissy Montez and junior Jackie Reed.
Montez and Reed are two of the top returning hitters for the Red Storm as Montez hit .314 with eight home runs, 26 RBI and 9 stolen bases, while Reed posted a .311 batting average and was second on the team with 35 RBI.
Despite the consistency, there will be some big changes to the St. John's infield as Montez will move from second base to shortstop - the position she played as a freshman and sophomore, Reed will slide from first base to third base - also her freshman year position.
Four newcomers are expected to boost the infield, with Courtney Budynas looking to gain some starts at second and Carly Williams making an impact at first base. The team will also get solid contributions from versatile utility players Amber Korras and Shirley Chui.
Catching
Two elite athletes will be behind the plate for the Red Storm in 2013, as sophomore Erin Burner will make the move from shortstop to catcher and senior captain Dominique Marcelino will split time between catching and first base.
Burner was one of the top freshmen in the BIG EAST in 2012, batting .329 in conference play with four home runs and 11 runs scored. Marcelino, who was hampered by a hip injury in 2012, still set career-highs in batting average, runs scored, hits, home runs and RBI.
Schedule
Once again, Kvilhaug and her staff have set up a daunting non-conference slate to prepare the Red Storm for the rugged BIG EAST conference with 30 games against teams that made the 2012 postseason. The Red Storm will play a total of 15 games against 2012 NCAA tournament teams, including four contests against 2012 Women's College World Series participants with two games against the defending national champions, Alabama and two more against preseason BIG EAST favorites USF.
The Red Storm will host 14 home contests at Red Storm Field on the Queens Campus, 10 of which will be broadcast for a national audience. The team's series with BIG EAST rivals Louisville, DePaul and Rutgers as well as contests against local rivals LIU and Fordham will air on ESPN3 via the St. John's Television Network (STJ-TV).
For all the latest news on the St. John's softball team, log on to RedStormSports.com and follow the team (@STJ_Softball) on Twitter. You can join the conversation with the hashtag, #stjsb.Tweets by @STJ_Softball
