ACU opens season Friday at LSC First-Pitch tourney Wildcats take on defending LSC champions in first game IRVING -- The ACU Wildcats will open the 2002 season this weekend with four games in the annual Lone Star Conference First-Pitch Tournament at the Southwest Park Softball Complex. The Wildcats don't get an easy season-opener because the league's three-time defending post-season tournament champion, Southeastern Oklahoma State, awaits in the first game Friday at noon. Following the game against the Lady Savages, the Wildcats will immediately turn around and play Southwestern Oklahoma State at 2 p.m. Friday. ACU will return to action Saturday at 10 a.m. against Cameron, and will then conclude its tournament play Saturday with a noon game against Central Oklahoma. Three of the Wildcats' first four opponents have each already played at least twice (Southwestern Oklahoma, at 0-0, being the exception), while the Wildcats have yet to step on the field. That fact, however, hasn't dampened head coach Carol Tabor's enthusiasm for a season she believes could be a special one for the Wildcats. ACU returns seven starters and 11 letterwinners from last year's team that finished 22-22 overall and third in the LSC South Division. Also, senior centerfielder Veronica Villa returns to the lineup after missing all but the first six games of the 2001 season with a broken hand. Villa, the 2000 LSC South Division Player of the Year and 2001 Pre-Season Player of the Year, will hit at the top of the Wildcats' lineup. Other top hitters returning include shortstop Robin Woodall, second baseman Misty Pryer, third baseman J.D. Williams and first baseman Melissa Williams. Leading the pitching staff is junior Maurine McWilliams, who could be in her last year with the Wildcats before entering dental school. McWilliams was 21-19 last season with a 3.31 ERA and 120 strikeouts in 262.1 innings of work. The Wildcats also have some promising newcomers in outfielder Katie Bryan of Abilene High and utility players Lanessa Glover of Weatherford and Haylee Shackelford of Brownwood. "I feel like this team has all the elements speed, power, contact hitting and pitching it needs to be our best team ever," Tabor said. "If everything goes right off the field -- and that's the key -- this year could be special." The player Tabor thinks could have a breakout season in 2002 is Woodall, who had a spectacular fall season. Woodall, who battled injuries and illness last year, played in 19 games as a freshman and finished tied for the team lead in home runs with two. However, Tabor expects that number to go up this year. "With Veronica at the top of our lineup and and Robin in the middle, I don't think we have any holes in the lineup," Tabor said. "We have speed and power up and down the lineup. We've had those things before, but we've never had the complete package in one season like we do this year." Southeastern, picked to win the LSC North Division, is 2-2 on the season and is led by Jennifer Langford, who is hitting .571 with 11 RBI through the early part of the season. Southwestern returns seven starters from last year's 28-17 club and has been picked to finish third in the LSC North Division this season. Southwestern Oklahoma, eliminated from last year's LSC Post-Season Tournament by the Wildcats, will be led by Lauren Brown, who was named the LSC North Division Freshman of the Year in 2001. Cameron is 0-2 after losing twice Tuesday at Texas Woman's by the scores
of 4-3 and 2-0, and Central Oklahoma is 3-1 after playing in the Southern
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