The BYU softball team will play in the USF Under Armour Showcase, their last tournament of the preseason, this weekend in Florida. The team will play in a double header against Maine on Thursday and LIU Brooklyn and Providence College on Saturday.
'We are going to go to Florida expecting to win every game,' Coach Eakin said. 'And if we don't we better have competed in the game we lost and the other team better have played well.'
The Cougars line-up saw a change at the San Diego Classic when Carly Duckworth and Katie Manuma stepped into the circle to help provide assistance to the injured pitching staff. As of last weekend, both girls have been added to the pitching rotation and will see more time on the mound. Manuma said that she is excited to be throwing again and that she hopes she can perform when her team needs her to.
BYU shortstop J.C. Clayton catches a pop fly. The Softball team is in St. George at the Red Desert Classic tournament. (Photo by Chris Bunker)
'It's been an interesting challenge integrating six new kids into our line-up,' Eakin said. 'We're trying to bring new kids in and get them experience while we're working through injuries on the mound.'
After working different players into different positions throughout the preseason tournaments, Eakin said the Cougars are starting to stabilize their line up as much as they can so they can go into conference play with a consistent line-up.
The tournament will kick off at the USF Softball Stadium in Tampa. This tournament looks promising for the Cougars as all three teams have only won a combined six games out of thirty-three played. BYU is headed into Thursday's games with a 7-13 record of it's own.
After a day of rest on Friday, the tournament will pick back up on Saturday at the Eddie C. Moore Complex. The Cougars will play LIU Brooklyn and Providence College to close the tournament.
The LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds will look for their first win against BYU after losing the only two games they have played. However, the Blackbirds are on a 10-game losing streak and have only two wins out of nineteen played. To wrap up the tournament, the Cougars will face Providence College who they have not seen since 2009.
JC Clayton will attempt to break both the the school and Pacific Coast Softball Conference records for longest hitting-streak in this tournament. She is only two games away from breaking both records and is tied for third place in the BYU record books and second place in PCSC's.
For a complete schedule with game times, visit the BYU softball website.