SAN ANTONIO — UTSA will open its 25th season of play this weekend with five games beginning Friday at the three-day Titans Classic in Fullerton, Calif.
The Roadrunners will start their 2016 campaign with a 3:30 p.m. (CT) contest against Weber State on Friday, followed by a 6 p.m. (CT) matchup with host Cal State Fullerton. On Saturday, the squad will take on San Diego State (1 p.m./CT) and Canisius (4 p.m./CT) and close the weekend with a noon (CT) contest against the Aztecs on Sunday.
Picked to finish fourth in Conference USA, the Roadrunners return 13 letterwinners from last year’s squad that went 36-18 and posted a 16-7 mark in league action to claim the top spot in the West Division. The team’s 36 wins were the most since 2006 and among the 13 returners are six regular starters and three pitchers.
The 2016 team is led by preseason all-conference selection Kendall Burton, who started all 54 games in center field and paced the squad with 69 hits and 26 extra-base knocks a season ago. Additionally, she hit .363 and drove in 42 runs en route to second-team all-conference and C-USA All-Freshman Team honors. UTSA also returns its best run-producer from 2015 in junior Randee Crawford. The Livingston native led C-USA with 19 homers and a program-record-tying 64 RBIs on her way to first-team all-conference honors.
In the circle, Nicole Merrill, Chelsea Parker and Lizzy Fox all return. Merrill posted a 3.17 ERA and 78 strikeouts to go along with a 10-7 record and a save, while Parker posted the best ERA on the staff at 2.45 a season ago.
Weber State, UTSA’s first opponent of the campaign, was picked to repeat as Big Sky Conference champions after it finished 2015 with a 38-19 mark on its way to the program’s first conference tournament title. The Wildcats return five seniors from that championship team, including first-team all-conference picks McKinley Brinkerhoff and Alyson Kulp.
Tournament host Cal State Fullerton was tabbed second in the preseason Big West Conference poll and the Titans are led by senior infielder and two-time All-American Missy Taukeiaho. A member of the preseason watch list for the 2016 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award, Taukeiaho hit .390 with 10 doubles, 12 homers and 41 RBIs en route to third-team NFCA All-America laurels last season.
San Diego State returns nine letterwinners, including all four pitchers, from last year’s team that went 38-20 overall and finished second in the Mountain West Conference with an 18-6 mark. The Aztecs, who are receiving votes in the ESPN/USA Softball preseason poll, are led by a first-team all-conference battery in pitcher Erica Romero and catcher Jenavee Peres. Romero went 36-17 and struck out 171 batters in 318.2 innings pitched, while Peres hit .347 with nine homers and 48 RBIs a season ago.
Canisius was tabbed to finish second in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference after winning the league’s regular season title in 2015. The Golden Griffins went 26-19 overall and 15-5 in league play a season ago and saw outfielder Jessica Berzins, designated player Lindsey Silfer and pitcher Erika Mackie all placed on the preseason all-conference squad. Berzins (.444 BA) and Silfer (.387 BA) paced the offense for last year’s team, while Mackie went 14-7 with a 3.39 ERA in the circle.
The Roadrunners will face most of the competitive tournament field for the first time. UTSA has split a pair of meetings with the Titans, while Weber State took its only contest against the Roadrunners. The Birds never have met Canisius or San Diego State.