Conference Carolinas

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The 2014 Conference Carolinas Regular Season Champion Limestone College softball team has been tabbed by the league coaches to repeat as Conference Champions in the 2015 Conference Carolinas Softball preseason poll. Last season’s Conference Coach of the Year Amy Yates brings back three First-Team All-Conference selections to defend their championship.

As for the position players, Limestone returns First-Team All-Conference members in sophomores Bailie Maybry (Boiling Springs, S.C.) and Sam Thornton (Pauline, S.C.) as well as Second-Team member senior Alycia Stiles (Harleysville, Pa.). Maybry, a versatile outfielder or infielder, led the team in batting average (.358) and RBIs (35) while Thornton hit a team-best .375 in league games from her second base position.

Stiles is second among returners in batting average at .302 and the returning leader in doubles (9) and homeruns (3). Her 23 RBIs from last season is only second to Maybry. 

Mount Olive returns three All-Conference Carolinas Softball players to the 2014 Conference Carolinas Championship and NCAA Southeast Regional participant squad. One returner was also named to the 2014 All-Southeast Regional team last year.

Kelsey Akers, a junior from Burlington, N.C., led the team with a .427 batting average and 19 stolen bases. Beth Overman, a senior from Elizabeth City, N.C., led the team with five home runs and defensively with a .991 fielding percentage at first base.

Mount Olive looks to make a run for their third consecutive Conference Carolinas Championship. The 2014-15 team returns almost their entire starting line-up for the 2014-15 season.

The North Greenville softball team is entering its fifth season under head coach Sarah Hall, and the Crusaders are once again poised to make a post season run. The Crusaders will welcome back a solid core of experience heading into their 2015 campaign, as seven starters return from a team that went 29-18. The experienced returners will be key to NGU’s success as the team looks to replace conference Player of the year Rachel Glazebrook, who graduated in May. The returners who will look to fill the void include three seniors, who have more than 292 starts between them. Sarah Hall will rely heavily on all three, including center fielder Sarah Armstrong, who has started all but one game since arriving on campus in 2012. Last season Armstrong was second on the team with a .323 batting average, scoring 36 of NGU’s 207 runs, which ranked second in the league. The Crusaders will open up the 2015 season February 6^th against Chowan University.

(# of First Place Votes in Parenthesis)