As promised last week, this week’s column is going to talk all things Point Park softball.

This year, the Pioneers are built around their veterans. Of the 17-player roster, 12 are returners and 11 are upperclassmen (four seniors, seven juniors).

The most important returners? Point Park’s entire pitching staff from last season. The trifecta of seniors Ashley Iagnemma, Tiffany Edwards and junior Katie Tarr combined to pitch every inning of last season, and all are back for this year.

The pitching staff has continued to be the biggest asset to Point Park for the past few seasons (at least for as long as I have been here), but I think that will change once Iagnemma and Edwards graduate at the end of this season.

Already this season, Iagnemma claimed the River States Conference (RSC) Softball Pitcher of the Week for the week of Feb. 25 – March 3. During that week, she pitched 19.0 innings in three games and accumulated a 2.58 ERA.

On the offensive side, the Pioneers return sophomore outfielder Maddie Horn, who led the team in batting average (.350) hits (36), runs (19) and on-base percentage (.427) last year. Another offensive stand out is junior third baseman Amber Cook, who hit .248 last season and led the team in RBIs with 16. Senior outfielder Shannon Davis also returns a .248 batting average from last season.

All five of the new faces on the field this season come in the form of freshmen – two outfielders, one catcher, one pitcher and an infielder.

The outfielders are Carissa Scekeres from Latrobe and Taylor Goldstrohm from West Allegheny. Goldstrohm’s name should look familiar, as she was also a freshman standout on the soccer field earlier this school year.

Alicia Egner from Fruitland, Idaho came into this year as a shortstop, and Courtney Shoemake from Frostburg, Maryland. adds to the pitching staff, while Hailey Leitner from Cornell High School looks to get time behind the plate.

Looking at last year, Point Park was overshadowed by the RSC Champion Baseball team, but softball deserved to be recognized in their own light, making it to the final three teams in the conference and just shy of a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Nationals bid.

This year, Point Park is already 4-11 overall and 1-3 in RSC play, but as always, I urge you to not draw conclusions based on the beginning of the season. The first few games in conference play are all about finding your groove and getting back into the swing of things (pun intended) after coming back from Florida.

Will they make it as far as they did last year? I hope so. I think they have the potential to. It’s all about when they will hit their stride – it just cannot come too early.