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Welcome to Volume 1 of the Dugout Digest, with stories, headlines, and exclusive information, all from the desk and pen of yours truly, resident college softball insider Justin McLeod.
In this inaugural edition of the Digest:
- A spotlight on Western Carolina, last season’s upstart team in the SoCon
- Clemson’s fan support
- Why you should care about the CAA’s chances at being a 2-bid league to the NCAA tournament
- My WCWS picks
- The 2022 Coaches Hot List
- Tidbits and Hits – news you might have missed
Thoughts, opinions, and questions can be sent to [email protected]. As long as I see your email, you’ll get a reply.
LEADING OFF
Western Carolina looks to build on 2021 run, prove themselves a consistent contender
When I spoke to Western Carolina head coach Jim Clift in mid-January, the Catamounts head coach shared some really quality insights about his team. He also made no bones about the fact that his club is in a new, somewhat unique position entering this season.
Three seasons ago, the Catamounts won just five games in conference play and finished the year eleven games under .500. The 2020 season got off to a great start with a victory over Clemson in the Tigers’ first-ever home game, but faded quickly into a 3-13 record by the time the season abruptly shut down.
If there was a word to describe the 2021 performance of Clift’s squad, it had to be “resilient”.
After another quick, upstart 2-0 start to the season, the Catamounts had already endured a 9-game losing streak and had seen four games cancelled or postponed in a two-week span. After splitting what became a 2-game series against Chattanooga to open conference play, the Catamounts were 6-16 with two non-conference games to go to close out March and a full SoCon slate to follow.
Then, something clicked.
Beginning with the final game of that Chattanooga series, the Catamounts proceeded to reel off eleven straight victories and vaulted to the top of the conference standings. They finished the year 12-5 in the SoCon, a complete reversal of fortunes from their 2019 showing.
Along the way, Bailey Huneycutt posted a .364 batting average and fourteen home runs en route to SoCon Player of the Year honors, while Jayme Eilers and Savannah Rice combined for a 3.58 ERA and 251 strikeouts in 307 of the Catamounts’ 345 innings pitched on the year. All three players lead the pack of returners for the Catamounts this season.
Building off of their successful momentum from last season and dealing with being one of the “teams to beat” in the conference is new territory for the Catamounts, but the same resiliency that the program showed last year should come in handy for them once-again in 2022.
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