St. John's University Athletics
Friday, February 10
Clearwater, Fla. (Eddie C. Moore Complex Field 2)
11 a.m.
St. John's University
vs
Kentucky
St. John's Opens Season at NFCA Leadoff Classic
2/9/2023 1:06:00 PM | Softball
Game Notes (PDF)Watch (Kentucky)Watch (Auburn)Live Stats (Auburn)Watch (South Alabama)Watch (Northwestern)Watch (Southern)
The Red Storm opens with back-to-back games against No. 20 Kentucky and No. 21 Auburn
QUEENS, N.Y. (Feb. 9, 2023) – The St. John's softball team will open its season in Florida at the NFCA Leadoff Classic this weekend. The Red Storm will play fives games in three days, all held at Eddie C. Moore Complex in Clearwater, Fla.
The Johnnies will open its season with a doubleheader on Friday against No. 20 Kentucky and No. 21 Auburn for which St. John's will be the road team at the neutral site. First pitch against the Wildcats is set for 11:30 a.m. and the contest with Auburn will follow the completion of that game. Saturday the Red Storm will partake in another doubleheader, as the home team against South Alabama at 1:30 p.m. and No. 8 Northwestern scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. Finally, the squad will close the weekend with a 10 a.m. contest against Southern, as the road team.
All games will be streamed live by gamechanger.com. Live stats will be provided by statbroadcast, with links for both found on the softball schedule page on Redstormsports.com. Via the gamechanger app, free stats and video will be provided.
After a 12-35 2022 campaign, the Red Storm hope to build on its youth. Of the seven returning starters from last season, four are sophomores and juniors. Nine freshman joined the team in the fall adding to the youth of the team. London Jarrard enters her sophomore season after breaking out in her debut campaign. The Carlsbad, Calif. Native hit .400, the tenth best single season mark in Johnnies history. Jarrard was named First Team All-BIG EAST, the seventh Johnnie to receive the honor in her freshman season.
The Red Storm will open with a 14-game road trip in three different states, against 12 different teams. Six of these opponents were ranked in the original preseason NFCA Poll. Overall, the Red Storm will play 31 road games, and host 25 games as part of the largest schedule since 2012. The BIG EAST changed the format of conference games this season from three games over two days, to a three-game series played Friday through Sunday. The Johnnies will host six league opponents and travel to four. The BIG EAST opener is set for March 10-12 as St. John's hosts Providence.
Head Coach Bob Guerriero enters his fifth season at the helm of the program for the Red Storm, and his 11th overall. He spent six seasons with the Red Storm as an assistant and associate head coach before earning the promotion. His assistants Grace Kramer and Marissa Rizzi, both are former players during his time with the Johnnies. Guerriero earned a berth to the BIG EAST Tournament in his first season as head coach and compiled a 26-22 record.
After a 13-11 SEC slate, the No. 20 Kentucky Wildcats earned the fifth seed in the conference tournament, last season. Despite a first round loss to fourth-seeded Florida, the Wildcats were selected to the Virginia Tech Regional. UK knocked out Miami (OH) to reach the finals and dropped the best-of-3 to Virginia Tech, ending their season at 37-15.The Wildcats return Erin Coffel and Kayla Kowalik, recent honorees to the 2023 USA Softball Player of the Year top 50 Watch List. Coffel earned NFCA All-American Honors in 2022. She belted 15 homers while hitting at a .412 clip last season, and earning First Team All-SEC honors. Kowalik also earned First Team All-SEC, while hitting .413 with 26 RBI and 15 stolen bases. Head Coach Rachel Lawson is in her 16th season with the Wildcats. Lawson has guided UK to 13 NCAA Tournament bids while at the helm of the program.
Friday will be the first meeting between the two programs.
No. 21 Auburn reached the NCAA Tournament for the 17th time last season, but ultimately was eliminated by Louisiana-Lafayette in the Clemson Regional. The Tigers return standouts Bri Ellis and Maddie Penta who were both selected as members of the 2023 Preseason All-SEC Team and Top 100 Watch List. Ellis was named the SEC Freshman of the Year, and Penta earned First Team All-SEC and All-Region honors. Ellis belted 20 homers and 49 RBI in her freshman campaign. Penta was dominant with a 24-10 record, a 1.76 ERA, 269 strikeouts and held opposing hitters to a .181 average. Head Coach Mickey Dean enters his seventh with the Tigers, after his fourth NCAA Tournament appearance with Auburn last season, and his 11th in his career.
The Tigers and Red Storm have three previous meetings. The most recent was last season when Auburn won a pair of games as the host against the Red Storm last spring.
South Alabama fell one win short from an NCAA Tournament berth after falling to ninth-seeded Coastal Carolina in the Sun Belt Championship, 3-0. The Jaguars earned the second seed in the Sun Belt after a 25-21 campaign. The Jaguars earned two selections to the preseason All-Sun Belt, Olivia Lackie and MacKenzie Brasher. Laskie was also named top 100 national top players list. She also compiled a 15-8 record, 2.02 ERA, and 208 strikeouts. Brasher hit .341 with 20 stolen bases last season. Both were First Team All-Sun Belt Selections in 2022. The reigning Sun Belt Coach of the Year, Becky Clark is entering her 17th season with the Jaguars. Clark has been with the program since its origination and has won two total Sun Belt Coach of the Year Awards. South Alabama has reached the NCAA Regional Final in five seasons, and three conference tournament titles.
This will be the first meeting in 12 years between the Jaguars and the Red Storm. The Jaguars won the lone meeting of the series 7-6 in February of 2010.
The No. 8 Northwestern Wildcats did not enter the polls until the third week last season, and finished sixth in the final poll released on June 14. Nicknamed the Cardiac 'Cats, the squad had a flair for the dramatics last season coming back in multiple games to reach the WCWS for the sixth time in program history. Northwestern finished the 2022 season 45-13. The Wildcats held a 10-7 record against Top 25 opponents, with three of those losses coming in the postseason. NU took two-of-three in the Super Regionals at no. 8 Arizona State before falling to no. 1 Oklahoma and no. 5 UCLA in Oklahoma City. Unanimous All-Big Ten First Team selection Danielle Williams returns as one of the top pitchers in the country. The Top 10 Finalist for 2022 USA Collegiate Softball Player of the Year finished 2022, 31-6, touting a 2.09 ERA. Catcher, Jordyn Rudd, earned many honors last season including First Team All-Big Ten, the Softball America National Defensive Player of the Year, Rawlings Gold Glove Award, and the Johnny Bench Award. Rudd hit .370 with eight home runs, and yielded a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage in 459 chances. Rudd and Williams were both named to 2023 USA Softball Player of the Year Watch List.
Saturday evening will be the second matchup between the two programs. The Wildcats were victorious in the first meeting, defeating the Red Storm 12-3 in March 2018.
Southern wrapped up the 2022 spring campaign, 16-34 with their season ending with a loss to fourth-seeded Jackson State, 3-12. The Lady Jaguars are slated to finish third in the West Division of the SWAC based on the preseason poll. Alana Mark returns for the Lady Jaguars after leading the team with .316 batting average, 23 RBIs and seven home runs. Brittney Williams enters her second season at the helm of the program after her debut season in 2022.
Sunday morning will be the first meeting between the Lady Jaguars and the Red Storm.
The Red Storm will hit the road again next week, but this time to Georgia. The Johnnies will play five games in three days against No. 15 Georgia, Charlotte, and No. 17 Stanford.
The Johnnies will open its season with a doubleheader on Friday against No. 20 Kentucky and No. 21 Auburn for which St. John's will be the road team at the neutral site. First pitch against the Wildcats is set for 11:30 a.m. and the contest with Auburn will follow the completion of that game. Saturday the Red Storm will partake in another doubleheader, as the home team against South Alabama at 1:30 p.m. and No. 8 Northwestern scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. Finally, the squad will close the weekend with a 10 a.m. contest against Southern, as the road team.
All games will be streamed live by gamechanger.com. Live stats will be provided by statbroadcast, with links for both found on the softball schedule page on Redstormsports.com. Via the gamechanger app, free stats and video will be provided.
After a 12-35 2022 campaign, the Red Storm hope to build on its youth. Of the seven returning starters from last season, four are sophomores and juniors. Nine freshman joined the team in the fall adding to the youth of the team. London Jarrard enters her sophomore season after breaking out in her debut campaign. The Carlsbad, Calif. Native hit .400, the tenth best single season mark in Johnnies history. Jarrard was named First Team All-BIG EAST, the seventh Johnnie to receive the honor in her freshman season.
The Red Storm will open with a 14-game road trip in three different states, against 12 different teams. Six of these opponents were ranked in the original preseason NFCA Poll. Overall, the Red Storm will play 31 road games, and host 25 games as part of the largest schedule since 2012. The BIG EAST changed the format of conference games this season from three games over two days, to a three-game series played Friday through Sunday. The Johnnies will host six league opponents and travel to four. The BIG EAST opener is set for March 10-12 as St. John's hosts Providence.
Head Coach Bob Guerriero enters his fifth season at the helm of the program for the Red Storm, and his 11th overall. He spent six seasons with the Red Storm as an assistant and associate head coach before earning the promotion. His assistants Grace Kramer and Marissa Rizzi, both are former players during his time with the Johnnies. Guerriero earned a berth to the BIG EAST Tournament in his first season as head coach and compiled a 26-22 record.
After a 13-11 SEC slate, the No. 20 Kentucky Wildcats earned the fifth seed in the conference tournament, last season. Despite a first round loss to fourth-seeded Florida, the Wildcats were selected to the Virginia Tech Regional. UK knocked out Miami (OH) to reach the finals and dropped the best-of-3 to Virginia Tech, ending their season at 37-15.The Wildcats return Erin Coffel and Kayla Kowalik, recent honorees to the 2023 USA Softball Player of the Year top 50 Watch List. Coffel earned NFCA All-American Honors in 2022. She belted 15 homers while hitting at a .412 clip last season, and earning First Team All-SEC honors. Kowalik also earned First Team All-SEC, while hitting .413 with 26 RBI and 15 stolen bases. Head Coach Rachel Lawson is in her 16th season with the Wildcats. Lawson has guided UK to 13 NCAA Tournament bids while at the helm of the program.
Friday will be the first meeting between the two programs.
No. 21 Auburn reached the NCAA Tournament for the 17th time last season, but ultimately was eliminated by Louisiana-Lafayette in the Clemson Regional. The Tigers return standouts Bri Ellis and Maddie Penta who were both selected as members of the 2023 Preseason All-SEC Team and Top 100 Watch List. Ellis was named the SEC Freshman of the Year, and Penta earned First Team All-SEC and All-Region honors. Ellis belted 20 homers and 49 RBI in her freshman campaign. Penta was dominant with a 24-10 record, a 1.76 ERA, 269 strikeouts and held opposing hitters to a .181 average. Head Coach Mickey Dean enters his seventh with the Tigers, after his fourth NCAA Tournament appearance with Auburn last season, and his 11th in his career.
The Tigers and Red Storm have three previous meetings. The most recent was last season when Auburn won a pair of games as the host against the Red Storm last spring.
South Alabama fell one win short from an NCAA Tournament berth after falling to ninth-seeded Coastal Carolina in the Sun Belt Championship, 3-0. The Jaguars earned the second seed in the Sun Belt after a 25-21 campaign. The Jaguars earned two selections to the preseason All-Sun Belt, Olivia Lackie and MacKenzie Brasher. Laskie was also named top 100 national top players list. She also compiled a 15-8 record, 2.02 ERA, and 208 strikeouts. Brasher hit .341 with 20 stolen bases last season. Both were First Team All-Sun Belt Selections in 2022. The reigning Sun Belt Coach of the Year, Becky Clark is entering her 17th season with the Jaguars. Clark has been with the program since its origination and has won two total Sun Belt Coach of the Year Awards. South Alabama has reached the NCAA Regional Final in five seasons, and three conference tournament titles.
This will be the first meeting in 12 years between the Jaguars and the Red Storm. The Jaguars won the lone meeting of the series 7-6 in February of 2010.
The No. 8 Northwestern Wildcats did not enter the polls until the third week last season, and finished sixth in the final poll released on June 14. Nicknamed the Cardiac 'Cats, the squad had a flair for the dramatics last season coming back in multiple games to reach the WCWS for the sixth time in program history. Northwestern finished the 2022 season 45-13. The Wildcats held a 10-7 record against Top 25 opponents, with three of those losses coming in the postseason. NU took two-of-three in the Super Regionals at no. 8 Arizona State before falling to no. 1 Oklahoma and no. 5 UCLA in Oklahoma City. Unanimous All-Big Ten First Team selection Danielle Williams returns as one of the top pitchers in the country. The Top 10 Finalist for 2022 USA Collegiate Softball Player of the Year finished 2022, 31-6, touting a 2.09 ERA. Catcher, Jordyn Rudd, earned many honors last season including First Team All-Big Ten, the Softball America National Defensive Player of the Year, Rawlings Gold Glove Award, and the Johnny Bench Award. Rudd hit .370 with eight home runs, and yielded a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage in 459 chances. Rudd and Williams were both named to 2023 USA Softball Player of the Year Watch List.
Saturday evening will be the second matchup between the two programs. The Wildcats were victorious in the first meeting, defeating the Red Storm 12-3 in March 2018.
Southern wrapped up the 2022 spring campaign, 16-34 with their season ending with a loss to fourth-seeded Jackson State, 3-12. The Lady Jaguars are slated to finish third in the West Division of the SWAC based on the preseason poll. Alana Mark returns for the Lady Jaguars after leading the team with .316 batting average, 23 RBIs and seven home runs. Brittney Williams enters her second season at the helm of the program after her debut season in 2022.
Sunday morning will be the first meeting between the Lady Jaguars and the Red Storm.
The Red Storm will hit the road again next week, but this time to Georgia. The Johnnies will play five games in three days against No. 15 Georgia, Charlotte, and No. 17 Stanford.
Players Mentioned
UTIL
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