Softball set to open season on Saturday against Hope

The Defiance College softball team will begin the 2022 season on Saturday, March 5 when they face Hope at Defiance High School. The game was originally scheduled to be played Hope before being moved to Defiance High due to weather and field concerns and will have Hope serving as the designated home team.

The Coach: The Yellow Jackets are led by DC alum Megan Warren who is in her third season as Head Coach. Warren served as the acting head coach during the 2019 season before being named the full-time head coach after leading the program to its third straight Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament appearance posting an overall record of 21-18 and a 9-7 record in conference. Warren brings a career record of 42-28-1 into the 2022 season.

The Players: Returning for the Yellow Jackets are five players who earned All-HCAC recognition during the 2021 season. Highlighting the group is last season's HCAC Player of the Year Kalin Hubble who hit .437 with nine home runs, 16 doubles, and 45 RBIs in 2021. Hubble also set program records for doubles and RBIs in the season and became the program leader in career home runs. Entering her senior season Hubble sits ninth in program history in career runs with 85 and tied for seventh in RBIs with 87.

Also returning are Hubble's fellow First Team All-HCAC honorees senior Sophie Moller and junior Marissa Roberts. Moller hit .350 with five extra-base hits and only struck out seven times in 137 plate appearances. A strong defensive catcher, Moller throw out the most runners in the conference with 15 and made just three errors behind the plate. Roberts had a breakout sophomore season that saw her break the program record for hits in a season with 58. The outfielder registered a 423 batting average, a .451 on-base percentage, and a .504 slugging percentage while leading Defiance with 36 runs scored.

The other All-HCAC players returning for the Purple and Gold are junior Josilyn Guzman and graduate student Taylor Biggs. Guzman earned Second Team All-HCAC honors last season after leading the Yellow Jackets with seven stolen bases and battered .350 with six doubles, three home runs, nine walks, and 19 RBIs. Biggs is the top returning hurler for Defiance and leads the team in most pitching categories in 2021 including wins with right and strikeouts with 87. In the Defiance record books, Bigg is tied for the lead in career saves with four and is top ten in strikeouts with 167 and wins in 20.

Hali Geraci, who played in all 38 games last season is also returning for the Yellow Jackets. Geraci recorded 25 hits in 2021 along with seven RBIs and three stolen bases. On the field, she served as the main shortstop and had a .910 fielding percentage with 77 putouts, 74 assists, and contributed to 14 double plays.

Other experienced returnees for Defiance include sophomores Brooke Silcox, Laney Grimwood, and Natalee Cooper, all of whom saw plenty of action during their freshman seasons. Silcox appeared in 34 games in 2021 and was a mainstay in the lineup splitting time between the designated player slot and first base. Grimwood appeared in all 38 games last season at second base and registered a .974 fielding percentage. Cooper appeared in 22 games while mainly playing first base. At the plate, she recorded 13 hits and drove in eight runs.

Pitchers returning for Defiance include sophomore Savannah McCoy and Riley Alcorn. McCoy posted a 7-6 record in the circle with 65 strikeouts and a 2.21 ERA. She also made 28 plate appearances and recorded three hits including a triple. Alcorn threw 9.1 innings over seven appearances and finished the season with a 1-0 record, six strikeouts, and a 3.00 ERA.

The Schedule: Defiance will play a full 40 game schedule consisting of 18 home games, 14 road games, and eight games in Florida during the team's spring break trip. Teams that the Yellow Jackets will face in Florida include Carthage, Beloit, Wisconsin-Platteville, and Millikin. Other notable non-conference games include Wilmington (March 22) and Albion (March 24) on the road and Adrian (March 26), Trine (March 27), Heidelberg (March 30), and Kalamazoo (April 11) at home. The Yellow Jackets will make their home debut on March 10 with a doubleheader against Alma. Senior Day is scheduled for April 23 against Mount St. Joseph.

Broadcasts: All home games will be played at the Karl H. Weaner Center and live stats and video can be found on defianceathletics.com.