Jayhawks To Open Season In San Diego

Feb. 5, 2007

LAWRENCE, Kan. –

First Pitch
Kansas opens its 39th season of competition Feb. 8-11 at the Campbell-Cartier Classic in San Diego, Calif. The tournament will be hosted by San Diego State and games will be played at the SDSU Softball Stadium. The Jayhawks will face five teams that advanced to NCAA Regionals in 2006, including three foes currently ranked in the top 25. Live Gametracker will be available for all KU games.

Head coach Tracy Bunge is in her 11th season at KU with a 318-271-1 record. The Jayhawks return 10 letterwinners from last year’s Big 12 postseason championship team, including senior All-Big 12 pitcher Kassie Humphreys. Other returning starters include senior Nicole Washburn (first base) and sophomores Val Chapple (third base) and Stevie Crisosto (shortstop).

Kansas Quick Hits
-Senior pitcher Kassie Humphreys (Glendale, Ariz.) is the Big 12’s top returning pitcher. Humphreys compiled a 1.19 ERA and held opponents to a .156 batting average in 234.2 innings. A 2006 All-Big 12 selection, Humphreys posted a 19-17 record and struck out 262 as a junior.
-The 2007 Kansas squad consists of five upperclassmen — two seniors and three juniors — and 13 underclassmen — seven sophomores and six freshmen.
-The Jayhawks’ eight newcomers in 2007 are the most since the 2003 season.
-Kansas won its first-ever Big 12 Postseason Championship and advanced to the NCAA Regionals for the second consecutive season in 2006.
-KU has made 10 trips to the NCAA Regionals in the last 26 years and gone four times underhead coach Tracy Bunge in the past 10 seasons (most recently in 2006).

The Campbell-Cartier Classic
Six teams will compete in the four-day Campbell-Cartier Classic in San Diego. Headlining the tournament are sixth-ranked Oregon State and No. 10 Cal. The Beavers advanced to the 2006 Women’s College World Series while Cal ended its season in the NCAA Super Regionals and finished the year with a 1.26 team ERA — which ranked 10th in the nation last year. KU will face No. 23/24 UMass, also a Super Regional participant; host San Diego State, which features former Jayhawk pitcher Christina Ross; and UC Santa Barbara.

Back in the Lineup
Having lost six of its top eight hitters to graduation, the Jayhawks return two batters that hit .200 or better from last year’s squad. Sophomores Val Chapple (.228) and Stevie Crisosto (.204) were both impressive in their rookie seasons, notching 11 doubles and starting 61 games apiece. The 2006 senior class of Nettie Fierros (outfield), Ashley Goodrich (outfield), Destiny Frankenstein (shortstop), Jessica Moppin (second base), Serena Settlemier (utility) and Heather Stanley (outfield) combined for 228 hits, 137 RBI and scored 151 runs in 846 at-bats last season.

The 2007 Schedule
KU is slated to play 68 regular-season games this year with only 17 of the contests at home. In addition to being road warriors for most of the 2007 campaign, the Jayhawks will be facing some of the nation’s top teams early in the season.

Twenty-three of KU’s games will be against teams that earned NCAA Regional bids in 2006 and 15 are versus opponents that finished in the top 25 last year. In addition to San Diego, other road tournaments will be held in Tallahassee, Fla. (Feb. 16-18), Louisville, Ky. (Feb. 23-25), Tulsa, Okla. (March 2-4) and Sacramento, Calif. (March 16-18).

The Jayhawks will open at home March 9-11 to host Drake, North Dakota State and New Mexico in the Jayhawk Invitational. Kansas will also host non-conference double headers with UMKC (March 13) and Arkansas (April 3).

KU will defend its Big 12 postseason title May 10-12 in Oklahoma City. The tournament recently changed to a single-elimination format, which will be spread over three days at the ASA Hall of Fame Stadium.

Up Next: Sunshine State Tournament
Kansas heads to Tallahassee, Fla., Feb. 16-18 for the Sunshine State Tournament. The Jayhawks will face host Florida State, South Carolina, Jacksonville and Memphis in the three-day event at JoAnne Graf Field.

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