Rutherford Times

The leaves are changing, the temperature is dropping, and winter is coming. But before one knows it, the spring sun will rise over the Mid-South, and the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders will welcome another softball season. Middle Tennessee has concluded the 2022-23 fall campaign and did so with a 6-0 record across September and October.

 

A combination of new faces and returning players buoyed MTSU to its successful fall slate, with both efficient hitting and clutch pitching having been on display at Blue Raider Softball Field.

 

The Blue Raiders outscored its six foes by a combined 106-12, with its last two games ruled as no-contests due to weather.

 

MTSU scored 10 or more while giving up one or fewer runs in each of their last four games. Across the fall, they've averaged over 17 runs per game while allowing just two each outing.

 

The Blue Raiders bring in nine newcomers this season. Transfers C/3B Julia Garcia (Maryland-Eastern Shore), P Carcich (Murray State), 2B Shelby Echols (Houston Baptist) and OF Savannah Behabetz (Incarnate Word) have all been key cogs for the team this fall, and along with a five-member freshman class, have meshed into the roster this offseason.

 

"We answered some questions about how our new players were going to gel with our existing players," head Blue Raiders head coach Jeff Breeden. "I think that our team chemistry is very good. I think everybody involved is on the same page, and I think that all our newcomers now know how we practice, know the speed of our practices and know the speed of our games."

 

But it's not just on the diamond where Breeden sees his team improve.

 

"I think that off the field they get along well. I think that whole that whole chemistry, that whole vibe they have going is really good. I think it's going to lend itself for good things in the spring," said Breeden.

 

The Raiders' freshmen class is part of the group that the head coach sees growing in real time. P Paige Conners comes to Murfreesboro from Lake Travis, Tex., and will be the sole lefty in the Blue Raider pitching staff. C Ansley Blevins is set to be a second-generation MTSU student-athlete; her mother played volleyball for the Raiders from 1992-95.

 

OF Lexi Medlock joins the Middle Tennessee roster from Murfreesboro's Siegel High School, 1B Riley Gilmore will look to lend her power to the batting order, while SS Julia Sitterding will seek to provide depth to the middle infield.

 

Defense is another Blue Raider asset which looks to prove its efficiently this spring.

 

"I think that we're more solid defensively than we've ever been here. I would put our outfield up against anybody. If the ball is in the air, then it's going to get caught. We have good arms out there; we've got good speed out there and we have good communication out there.

 

"We're more than one player deep at most of our infield positions, and I think that we've got good arms all the way around the infield. I think that we can have some players take a day off and somebody else gets right up and we don't miss a beat. And behind the plate we've got some depth. If you come and watch us play, we're turning a lot of double plays, and we're hustling on and off the field. We've had very few errors in the fall, and the errors that we have had haven't come back to bite us," Breeden said.

 

MTSU returns 10 players from last year's team, including pitcher Gretchen Mead. The graduate student from Kingwood, Tex. Is the longest-tenured member of the Blue Raider roster, and the sole player older than a junior. Mead led the '22 pitching staff in appearances with 28, and will co-headline this year's corps of pitcher alongside fellow returners Keri Munn and Claire Woods.

 

Breeden lauded Mead's experience on a roster that skews young.

 

"Mead brings a calming presence to the team. She has a lot of energy about her, and she has been around with us for several years now so she kind of knows the lay of the land. She knows how my reactions are to different things. She counsels our younger players. She talks to them about what our expectations are for them and what we want to set for ourselves culture-wise," he said.

 

Other returnees include sophomores Laura Mealer and Anyce Harvey. Mealer posted team-high .350 batting average, 1.034 OPS and 10 home runs in 2022, while starting all 53 games a season ago as a freshman. Harvey meanwhile hit .326 in 2021, while junior Amaya Harris brings her .314 AVG and 50 hits into 2023 from a year ago.

 

The immediate offseason focus now shifts from an organized team setting to a more general, personalized approach. But with the start of spring practices already on the horizon, it's on each player to set themselves and the team up for a successful 2023 season.

 

"We're now going to eight-hour weeks and back to individual-type stuff. I told the kids the other day that it's going to be about individually, how can each of you grow from now until January? Can you take your deficiencies and make them better between now and January? Then when we come back in January and into a team situation, we put it all back together again," Breeden said.

 

Breeden returns for his 11th season as head coach in 2023, and assistant coach Tony Foti is back for his 10thcampaign. Together, Breeden and Foti led the Blue Raiders to a 26-22 record in 2021, including an 11-8 mark in Conference USA action.

 

Middle Tennessee also welcomes the newest member of its coaching staff, Helen Peña. The graduate of California Polytechnic State University comes to Rutherford County from the University of Memphis, where she spent the previous five years on the Tigers' staff.

Original source can be found here