ROCHESTER, Mich. – Oakland University Softball opens the 2022 campaign in Orlando, Florida at The Knights Classic Sponsored by Knight Pass from Friday, February 25 at 9:00 a.m. to Monday, February 28 with five top-tier opponents.
SCOUTING REPORT
JAMES MADISON
The Dukes finished 3-1 at the Charlotte Invitational with wins over UConn (twice) and Campbell to sandwich a loss to host UNC-Charlotte as JMU dropped out of the NFCA Top 25 Poll into the receiving votes category. The purple and gold have two batters who have an average of .400 and above as the Dukes are seventh in the NCAA in home runs per game at 1.75.
DEPAUL
After two invitationals played, DePaul started out on a 5-0 record to sweep the DePaul Dome Tournament plus run-ruling Iowa 13-0 in five innings before dropping the last three games as the San Diego Classic. The Blue Demons were picked second in the Big East as the team is currently held down by a single batter with a .455 average and two pitchers hovering around the 3.40 ERA mark.
FLORIDA
The No. 4 Gators are undefeated at 10-0, sweeping the USF Tournament with two wins over ranked opponents, No. 16 Michigan and No. 14 Duke, to outscore its opponents 92-6. On Wednesday, Florida shut out North Florida 8-0 as pitcher Natalie Lugo recorded her second no-hitter of her career to tie for first in the NCAA in ERA at .00.
OLE MISS
The Rebels are 8-3 following three invitational appearances with wins over Dixie State, Colorado State, Cal Fullerton and others. Most recently, Ole Miss split their last two games at the Troy Invitational to the home Trojans behind two, one score games. The Rebels are anchored by the 38th-best batter in the nation after two weeks, Tate Whitely, who boasts a batting average of .500.
UCF
In the last game of the invitational Oakland will do battle with host UCF who is coming off the prestigious St. Pete/Clearwater Elite Invitational with a 15-10 upset over No. 11 Texas and an extra-inning victory over Texas Tech as four other losses were sprinkled in as the Knights fell out of the most recent NFCA Top 25 Poll.
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HEATED UP IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP
The Golden Grizzlies finished 26-16 overall, 23-11 in Horizon League play last season that concluded in the Horizon League Conference Tournament after No. 2 seed Oakland upset No. 1 seed Youngstown State only to fall to No. 3 seed UIC in the championship match 4-3.
ALL-LEAGUE HONOREES
Following the 2021 season, five Golden Grizzly athletes were named to #HLSB All-League honors in Cammie Brummitt, Lauren Griffith, Madison Jones, Sydney Campbell, and Jen Krizka. Brummitt, Griffith, and Jones were named to First Team honors as position players while Campbell was one of two to be listed as a First Team Pitcher. Krizka then followed suit with an All-League Second Team accolade.
RETURNING POWER
Oakland returns all five of the previously mentioned names with an average batting average of .373 as Jones returns to the line up with a team-high .411 average from 2021. Jones was also 15-16 on stolen base attempts and racked up a tying team-high of 13 doubles and seven home runs for a .738 slugging percentage.
Campbell returns to the circle after a 17-7 season a year ago with 91 strikeouts through 165.2 innings pitched to allow 46 earned runs for an ERA of 1.94.
THE FAVORITE? OAKLAND
The Golden Grizzlies were picked first in the #HLSB Preseason Poll with two first-place votes and 82 in total ahead of Youngstown State who garnered five first-place votes and 81 total, respectively. UIC was third with 74 points (two first-place votes) while Robert Morris (62) and Green Bay (49) rounded out the top five.
2022 RECRUITING CLASS
The Golden Grizzlies added five student-athletes to the roster for the 2022 season in Kamryn Troyer, Maraina Smith, Jenna Johnston, Kayla Rodriguez, and Taylor Carraway.
KARN EXTENDED
Head Softball Coach, Lauren Karn, had her contract extended through 2025 as the fifth-year coach has coached 11 student-athletes to All-Horizon League honors while reaching the conference tournament three times with two of those being runner-up performances. Ahead of the 2022 campaign, Karn is 19 wins away from being the all-time winningest coach.
