As voted upon by coaches and media representatives from around the league, the Hounds received 87 total votes to finish 22 votes clear of UT-Permian Basin in 10th place, and 33 votes behind Texas Woman’s and Midwestern State, who tied for the seventh and eighth spots with 120 votes. The Hounds finished last season with a record of 9-21 in conference play, placing them in a tie for eighth at season’s end with Midwestern State, two spots shy of qualifying for the six-team LSC Postseason Tournament Field.
Five teams from the LSC were selected to the NCAA Division II South Central Regional Tournament last year while Angelo State advanced to the NCAA Division II World Series for the second consecutive season. That balance of strength at the top of the league was well evidenced in the preseason poll, as Angelo State received 12 first-place votes to enter the year as the preseason favorite while five other teams received at least one first-place vote.
The Hounds will look to get into the mix at the top of one of the NCAA Division II’s best conferences under the guidance of first year head coach Kira Zeiter having last finished above .500 at season’s end in 2007. Zeiter takes over for the Hounds after a three-year stint at Urbana University and returns to the South Central Region after serving as the head coach at Fort Lewis College from 2010-15 as well as a storied play career at Adams State where she finished her career ranked inside the top 10 of 11 different statistical categories in ASU’s NCAA Division II era record book.
Zeiter will have a solid core of returners to work with in her first season as Greyhound head coach including sophomore Jennifer McElroy, who was selected to the All-LSC Third Team as a freshman last season and finished second on the team with a batting average of .351 and recorded a team high 36 RBI’s. Joining McElroy in the heart of the order figures to be fellow returner junior Samantha Brockman, who has posted a batting average of better than .300 in each of her first two seasons at the dish for the Hounds.
Senior Kimberly Herron will handle the majority of the pitching responsibilities for the Greyhounds with the twin combination of Hanna and Emma Gary available for innings as well.
Eastern New Mexico will get their season started this weekend at the U.S. Bank ENMU Softball Classic Kickoff in Albuquerque, N.M. with games scheduled for Friday at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. and Saturday at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. All games for the tournament are scheduled to take place at the Rio Rancho High School Softball Complex and admission will be free of charge.
