TOURNAMENT: Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic
DATES: Friday, Feb. 19 – Sunday, Feb. 21
TEAMS: Bethune-Cookman, Loyola Marymount, No. 4 LSU, New Mexico, Pacific, UC Santa Barbara
LOCATION: Big League Dreams • Cathedral City, California
CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif. – Twelve of the 13 active Bethune-Cookman softball student-athletes return home as the Wildcats continue their road trail, this time across the country in the 2016 Marry Nutter Classic, Feb. 19-21 in Cathedral City, California.
B-CU is joined in the Golden State during week one of the Mary Nutter Classic with No. 9 Arizona, Arkansas, Army, Binghamton, Cal Poly SLO, No. 15 UCF, Central Michigan, George Washington, Loyola Marymount, No. 4 LSU, New Mexico, Norte Dame, Pacific, No. 25 Texas A&M, UC Santa Barbara, No. 8 UCLA, Utah Valley and No. 11 Washington.
The Cats open play with Pacific on Friday at 3 p.m. PST, closing opening day with No. 4 LSU at 8 p.m. PST. During day two B-CU faces New Mexico with a 5 p.m. PST, first-pitch, while taking on Utah Valley at 7:30 p.m. PST, Saturday evening.
Wrapping up the weekend, the Wildcats finish with UC Santa Barbara (2 p.m. PST) and Loyola Marymount (4:30 p.m. PST) on Sunday.
All games will be played at the Big League Dreams in Cathedral City, California.
Wildcat Facts
A pair of Bethune-Cookman softball rookies earned the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference's first weekly honors as Deidra Genera was named the league's Pitcher of the Week and Brianna Sanders collected MEAC Rookie of the week honors the league announced Monday, Feb. 15.
B-CU who went 3-2 during opening weekend, collected wins over Morgan State (13-5), Liberty (8-0) and Akron (3-2).
Genera (Norwalk, Calif.), earned all three Wildcats wins during five appearances. She posted a 0.70 ERA in 20.0 innings pitched and struck out 18, including seven looking.
Sanders (San Marcos, Calif.) went 8-for-17 at the plate, including a 3-for-4 performance against Morgan State, over the weekend. She recorded one triple, and four RBIs while finishing 4-for-4 on the bases and batting .471 in five games.
B-CU softball earned the preseason top spot in the MEAC Southern Division for the second-straight season, as the Wildcats were predicted to win the south, the conference announced Friday, Jan. 15. All preseason honors were voted on by the conference's head softball coaches and sports information directors.
B-CU finished the 2015 season as the MEAC Championship Runner-Up, falling to the Florida A&M Rattlers 2-0 in a “if necessary” championship match-up, May 9, 2015 in Ormond Beach, Florida. The Wildcats posted a 22-29 overall record during head coach Laura Watten's first season back in the B-CU dugout, while finishing 11-3 during league action.
In addition to the preseason team accolades, junior hurler Sabrina Anguiano (Hacienda Heights, Calif.) was named the 2016 MEAC Preseason Pitcher of the Year while also landing a spot on the 2016 MEAC Preseason First Team, alongside B-CU sophomore Mariah Davis (Madera, Calif.).
Anguiano was selected as the 2015 MEAC Pitcher of the Year after appearing in 41 games and registering 15 wins and three shutouts in 218.0 innings pitched. A two-time MEAC Player of the Week selection last season, Anguiano ranked third in the MEAC in complete games (17), sixth in strikeouts (95), seventh in ERA (4.17) and ninth in opponents' batting average (.307).
Coverage
Fans can follow @BCUSoftball on Twitter for all game day information, including score updates while pay-per-view coverage of the entire weekend can be found on flosoftball.com.
For the latest information on Bethune-Cookman Wildcats Athletics, follow us on Twitter (@BCUathletics), Instagram (BCUathletics), Facebook (facebook.com/BCUathletics), or visit us at www.bcuathletics.com.
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