Bucknell University Athletics
Softball Picked Second in Preseason Patriot League Poll
2/12/2016 4:59:00 PM | Softball
LEWISBURG, Pa. – After advancing to the championship game of the Patriot League Tournament in back-to-back seasons, the Bucknell softball team has been picked to continue that trend with a second-place finish in the Patriot League Preseason Poll, released by the conference on Wednesday. Additionally, the Bison had two players, senior pitcher Amanda Fazio and junior infielder Jacee Almond, voted to the Preseason All-League Team.
Bucknell is coming off a season in which it set a program record for wins, going 35-20. That win total included a pair of wins in the conference tournament, where the Bison finished as the runner-up to Lehigh. The Mountain Hawks were picked to repeat as the league champion, finishing with 12 first-place votes and 72 points. The Bison picked up two first-place votes and 58 points. Rounding out the poll were Army West Point (45), Boston University (41), Colgate (39), Holy Cross (27) and Lafayette (12).
Fazio has been an outstanding member of the Bucknell pitching staff since arriving as a freshman, when she earned Second Team All-Patriot League recognition in her rookie season. She is coming off a junior season in which she set program records in wins (19) and strikeouts (164) and now ranks third all-time in strikeouts with 327 and fifth in wins with 33.
Fazio is dual threat, also batting near the top of the team's lineup. She had the highest batting average (.341) of any returning Bison player and set the school's single-season record with 26 stolen bases. She has 32 stolen bases for her career, which ranks fifth on the program's all-time list.
Almond has been named to the All-Patriot League Second Team in each of her first two seasons at Bucknell. In just two seasons, she has moved into ninth on the program's career home run list with 10, and also ranks ninth with a career batting average of .338. In 48 games last season, Almond hit .316 with 12 doubles and three home runs. As a freshman, she hit seven home runs, the fifth most in a single-season in Bucknell history.
Army West Point's Kasey McCravey was named the Patriot League Preseason Player of the Year, while Lehigh's Christine Campbell was voted the Preseason Pitcher of the Year. Those two and the two Bucknell players were joined on the Preseason All-League Team by Alexis Watanabe (Lehigh), Mariel Schlaefer (Colgate), Morgan Decker (Lehigh), Moriah Connolly (Boston University), Emily Jarvis (Holy Cross), Nicole Yozzo (Lehigh), Brigit Ieuter (Colgate), Taylor Moss (Holy Cross), and Emily Gray (Army West Point).
Bucknell is set to begin its first season under new head coach Courtnay Foster, who takes over the Bison program after spending five seasons as an assistant coach at Northwestern. She was also an All-American pitcher for the Wildcats, who she played for from 2003-06. The Bison open the 2016 season at the Pirate Clash in Greenville, North Carolina on Feb. 19-21. They will play one game against both Saint Francis and Massachusetts and three games against East Carolina.
