Let’s go back a few years, say to 2015. UNC Greensboro’s softball program finished that season three games above the .500 mark overall and three games under .500 in conference play. The program was in just year #3 of the Janelle Breneman era and were improving, but still had a-ways to go.
Fast forward to the present day. The Spartans have not finished a season below .500 in conference since that time, five consecutive years of winning in league play (excluding the shortened 2020 season). UNCG has won each of the last four SoCon regular-season titles, made a pair of NCAA tournament appearances via conference tournament titles in 2018 and 2021, and came up one win shy of a third conference tournament title in 2019.
Last season, the Spartans finished the year 34-17 with a 14-4 conference showing. Their non-conference slate included wins over East Carolina and Charlotte. They lost just one conference series and ended the regular season with a 3-game series sweep of 2nd-place Western Carolina.
The Spartans were a powerful offensive team last season – the team finished with ninety home runs in total, while four individual players reached double-digits in that category. Three members of that quartet, including leading slugger Makenna Matthijs, return in 2022.
Under Breneman’s tenure, UNCG had never hit more than 61 home runs as a team in a single season until last year, when their power numbers were so significant that they left a number like 61 in the dust behind them.
Matthijs, by the way, also led the squad with a .355 batting average and with twelve doubles last season, making her presence an incredibly-valued one for the Spartans. A North Carolina native now back for her “super senior” season, Matthijs broke out onto the scene last season. Her batting average was 66 points higher than her previous career high, while her single-season home run total equaled her previous career total prior to last season. She posted career highs in runs, hits, RBIs, slugging percentage, and on-base percentage, rounding out a career year with all-conference and all-region honors. She should be a major catalyst to her team’s success once again in 2022.
Five Spartan hitters posted batting averages above .300 last season, and three of those players return – junior Maycin Brown and sophomore Brooklynn Maxwell, in addition to Matthijs. Brown also belonged to the double-digit home run club and collected ten doubles in her own right.
Veteran designated player Kayleigh Willis graduated following last season, and she left some shoes to fill in the lineup after batting .327 with twelve home runs last year. Her absence is the biggest hole that the Spartans will have to fill on offense.
Inside the pitching circle, the Spartans return their ace in Morgan Scott. Scott earned both the SoCon’s Pitcher and Freshman of the Year awards last season after leading the conference with 20 wins and 210 strikeouts on the year. She posted a 2.18 ERA, five shutouts, and finished the regular season with an 8-1 showing in her final ten appearances. A year earlier, as a true freshman during the shortened 2020 campaign, Scott collected eight wins and 106 strikeouts in 81 innings of work.
Behind Scott, the Spartans’ depth in the circle comes with something of a question mark. As a freshman last season, Alina Varga finished second on the squad with a 4.11 ERA and an 8-0 record, but she no longer appears on the Spartan roster. Outside of Scott, the sole returner in the circle is Alex Rodriguez, a true junior reliever who threw 15.2 innings last season. A pair of freshmen round out the bullpen depth chart for UNCG, including Virginia native Reese Byrd and South Carolina native Graysen Hunter.
To put it the way one rival coach did, the Spartans will be seen as the SoCon favorites until they’re officially knocked off that perch. After recording almost 300 wins in nine years, Breneman’s club has solidly established itself as a mid-major power. They’ll have another chance to turn some heads often this season, too, with a non-conference schedule that includes ten Power Five teams.
