GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The 2021 Softball season is right around the corner. Head coach
Kelsey Kooistra is ready to begin her tenure at the helm of the program after being announced as head coach in January. The team will host Goshen on Wednesday for an afternoon doubleheader before traveling to Ohio for two games against Mount Vernon Nazarene and two games against Lourdes over the weekend. Links for live coverage can be found below.
Schedule:
Wednesday, March 3
Opponent: Goshen
Times: 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.
Location: CU Softball Field
Coverage: Live
Stats &
Video
Friday, March 5
Opponent: Lourdes at 2:30 p.m. and Mount Vernon Nazarene at 5 p.m.
Location: Sylvania, Ohio
Coverage: Live
Stats
Saturday, March 6
Opponent: Lourdes at 10 a.m. and Mount Vernon Nazarene at 12:30 p.m.
Location: Sylvania, Ohio
Coverage: Live
Stats
Cornerstone Notes
- Alicia Ontiveros returns to the program after playing three years from 2017 through 2019. In that span, Ontiveros recorded 72 hits and 34 RBI. As a sophomore in 2018, she led the team with 19 RBI.
- McKenzie Butgereit returns to the lineup after a 13-game stint with the Golden Eagles in the 2020 season prior to the season's abrupt ending due to COVID-19. In those 13 games during the spring break trip, Butgereit batted .395, slugged a team-high .632, and collected a team-high 10 RBI.
- Senior Alessa Baldwin-Buchner also had a strong showing in Florida in the 2020 season as she hit .394 over 11 games.
- Sophomore Mikayla Meade had a strong performance in her shortened freshman season. She Led the team with 25.1 innings pitched and had a 3-1 record. She pitched five strong innings against #RV Bellevue to earn her first collegiate victory, and recorded two wins on the last day of the Florida trip after pitching in relief in both games.
- Junior Kaitlin Johnson pitched 15 total innings in 2020 and put up an impressive 1.4 ERA and held her opponents to a .211 batting average.
- The 2021 season will be the first season in recent history that the team begins the season in the state of Michigan. The team typically begins the season with a week-long trip to warmer weather in late February or early March. Due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the team will not have a spring break trip this season.
- Wednesday's home doubleheader against Goshen will be the first varsity action on the CU Softball Turf since April of 2019.
Scouting Goshen
Goshen has played four games this season, with doubleheaders against Indiana Tech and Calumet College. The Maple Leafs dropped both games to Indiana Tech and won both games against Calumet. In the shortened 2020 season, the Maple Leafs finished 8-10. Jolie Groeneveld leads the team at the plate so far as she has five hits in 11 at bats. Cornerstone has not played against Goshen since 2001 when the Golden Eagles won 3-1.
Scouting Lourdes
Lourdes will open their season this weekend with a pair of games against Cornerstone and a pair against Mount Vernon Nazarene. The Gray Wolves went 3-6 in the 2020 season before having their spring break trip cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Jo Ann Gordon is in her ninth season at the helm of the Gray Wolves program and returns 14 players from last year's roster.
Scouting MVNU
In the shortened 2020 season, the Cougars went 6-8 and had an even 52-52 tally in the total runs column against their opponents. Katelyn Perkins batted an impressive .471 over the course of 14 games last season, while Kaycee Ollis batted .340 with eight stolen bases. Perkins was also dominant in the circle, posting a 1.64 ERA in 21.1 innings. Macee Marcum also had a strong showing by posting a 1.89 ERA in 44.1 innings.
Softball Contact: Seth Walters
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