The Augusta University softball team will open up their season on Saturday, Feb. 1 at North Greenville University for a double header.
There’s a lot to look forward to with this team, and it starts with two of their returning players who have been named to the Peach Belt Conference Preseason All Conference team in Bailee Roberts and Bobbi Poff.
Roberts posted a .397 batting average with seven home runs and a 1.092 OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage) last season. She will be in the running for conference player of the year.
Poff also had a great season, batting .315 with five home runs, she will be a big part of what the Jaguars want to accomplish this season.
Senior Cadance Winder is also a name to watch out for as she flies under the radar, but was a major part of last year’s team.
We all know there’s one position in softball that makes a major, and that is in the circle, and the Jaguars look deep in that area.
Ansley Gibson, Madalyn Spinks, Hannah Turner and Payton Terrell will all pitch big innings for head coach Melissa Brocato and her staff.
“We put a lot of time and energy into pitching, so this year won’t necessarily be a new pitching staff, but a new mindset for them,” said the head coach in her 27th year with the title.
The transfer portal was a big help to bolster this roster as they brought in Chesney Miles and Ayellad Howard from Converse University.
“I think they provide a lot of speed in the outfield and on the bases,” said Coach Brocato about the transfers.
The theme this year is to flip the script a bit in conference play as that has been the area where Augusta has fallen short in year’s past, going 8-16 last season.
They were only swept twice in PBC play last year and both were against Columbus State and North Georgia, two of the top teams in the nation.
They want to take some of those series that they won only one game in and win the series, as well as pick up some sweeps themselves.
“We want to take our results last year up a notch, every series that we won one game we want to win two, every series we won two we want to win three and then we would love to take a series against a Columbus State or North Georgia,” said Brocato.
The Jaguars will head back home Sunday afternoon for a doubleheader with Catawba at noon and 2 p.m. make sure to come support the Lady Jaguars as they kick off their 2025 home campaign!
