Softball at the NFCA Leadoff Classic
Thursday, February 29: vs. DePauw, 4 p.m. 
Friday, March 1: vs. No. 1 Trine, 11 a.m./vs. No. 12 Belhaven, 1:30 p.m.
Saturday, March 2 vs. Chapman, 10 a.m./vs. No. 6 Moravian, 12 p.m.
Sunday, March 3 vs. DePauw, 9 a.m./vs. No. 16 East Texas Baptist, 11 a.m.

WHAT TO KNOW
•    Babson opens the 2024 season with six games over three days at the NFCA Leadoff Classic, which will now begin on Thursday due a weather forecast that calls for rain much of the weekend in Columbus, Ga. 
•    The Beavers are competing in the NFCA Leadoff Classic for the fourth time in program history after traveling to Panama City, Fla., for the event in 2007 and Tucson, Ariz., in both 2018 and 2020. 

SERIES HISTORY
vs. DePauw: first meeting
vs. Trine: The Beavers lost 3-2 to the Thunder at the 2018 NFCA Leadoff Classic in the only previous meeting between the teams.  
vs. Belhaven: first meeting
vs. Chapman: first meeting
vs. Moravian: Babson lost to the Greyhounds 5-4 in the only previous meeting back in 2011. 
vs. East Texas Baptist: first meeting

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
•    Head coach Dave Canan returns 12 players from a team that went 24-21 last spring. 
•    Junior Sara Moore earned All-NEWMAC and NFCA Region II first-team honors after batting .423 with 10 extra-base hits, 18 RBI and 35 runs scored, while graduate student Kate Karamouzis garnered all-conference second-team accolades after hitting .348 with nine doubles, five homer runs, 24 RBI and 27 runs scored in 2023. 
•    Junior Athena Hadjipanayis batted .265 with eight doubles and 30 runs scored, senior Molly Hennessy finished the spring with six doubles and 16 runs batted in, and classmate Chloe Joslin added seven extra-base hits and 15 RBI. 
•    Senior Moira O'Reilly was a repeat selection as the NEWMAC Pitcher of the Year and earned all-region first-team recognition after going 19-7 with a 1.83 ERA and 244 strikeouts in 176.1 innings pitched. 

SCOUTING DEPAUW
•    The Tigers (0-0) bring back 17 players after advancing to the NCAC Tournament final to finish with a record of 23-21.
•    Ella Ohrvall batted .393 with three doubles, 10 RBI, 19 stolen bases and 25 runs scored, Katie Mathies hit .383 with 14 doubles, eight homers and a team-high 36 runs batted, and Emily Timberman hit four home runs to go along with five doubles and 16 RBI. 
•    DePauw's lone returning pitcher, Alex Romero-Salas, went 1-2 with a 4.44 ERA in 34.2 innings of work last spring. 

SCOUTING TRINE
•    No. 1 Trine (0-0) returns 15 players from a team that went 46-6 on the way to capturing the program's first Division III national championship last June. 
•    Reigning NFCA Freshman of the Year Debbie Hill batted .446 with 19 doubles, 15 home runs and 58 runs batted in, Scarlett Elliot hit .306 with 13 doubles, 21 RBI and 29 runs scored and Ellie Trine finished the 2023 campaign with a .287 average to go along with 16 extra-base hits, 24 RBI and 38 runs scored. 
•    Hill went 13-5 with a 1.51 ERA and 128 strikeouts in 97.1 innings pitched last year, while Alexis Michon was 13-1 with a 1.53 ERA and 122 strikeouts in 110 innings. 

SCOUTING BELHAVEN 
•    The 12th-ranked Blazers (8-0) return 16 players from a team that went 32-13 and advanced to the NCAA Super Regionals for the second consecutive season in 2023. 
•    Katie Jo Richardson is batting .450 with two doubles and 11 runs batted in, Madi Miller is hitting .435 with two triples, a home run, five RBI and nine runs scored, and Ellie Jones boasts a .409 average to go along with three doubles, a homer and five runs batted in.
•    Kennedy Carruth is 4-0 with a 0.29 ERA and 32 strikeouts in 24 innings pitched, while Taylor Heaton has gone 2-0 with 0.95 earned run average in 14.2 innings of work this spring. 

SCOUTING CHAPMAN
•    The Panthers (4-3), who are coming off a pair of one-run victories over Pacific Lutheran on February 25, return all but one player from its 2023 squad that finished 27-16 after reaching the SCIAC Tournament final. 
•    Samantha Kennedy is batting .412 with two RBI and two stolen bases, Jordan Westerfield is hitting .389 with three doubles, a homer and four RBI, and Miranda Murphy boasts a .304 average to go along with two doubles and three RBI over the first seven games. 
•    Simi Lauwers is 3-0 with a 1.24 ERA and 11 strikeouts in 11.1 innings this spring, while Jillian Kelly (13.0 IP, 0-1, 3.77 ERA) and Rose Malen (12.2 IP, 1-2, 7.18 ERA) have both made two starts in the circle. 
 
SCOUTING MORAVIAN
•    The Greyhounds (0-0) return 18 players from its 2023 squad, which went 38-12 and advanced to the Division III World Series for the first time since 2010.
•    Holly Walter batted .389 with 18 extra-base hits, 25 RBI and 42 runs scored, Marcie Silberman hit .348 with eight doubles, six homers and 31 runs batted in, and Emily Silberman finished the year with a .326 average and four home runs to go along with a team-high 35 RBI. 
•    Sarah DeStefano went 16-4 with a 2.08 ERA and four shutouts in 21 starts, while Madi Cunningham was 18-7 with a 2.14 ERA with six shutouts and 95 strikeouts in 177 innings pitched last year. 

SCOUTING EAST TEXAS BAPTIST
•    The Tigers (4-1), who beat Central Baptist 7-0 last Monday, return three All-America selections and the majority of last year's team, which went 39-7 and lost in the NCAA regionals. 
•    Haylie Stum is batting .588 with four doubles and six runs batted in, Tristen Maddox is hitting .563 with five doubles, a home run, nine RBI and eight runs scored, and Tauryn Cummings boasts a .471 average to go along with a double and six runs batted in.
•    Ava Rodriguez (1-0) has not allowed an earned run in 9.2 innings this spring to least an East Texas Baptist staff that has seen five pitchers record a 2.41 ERA while holding opposing hitters to a .215 batting average over its first five outings.

O'REILLY, MOORE REWRITING THE RECORD BOOKS
•    O'Reilly became Babson's career strikeouts leader last spring and enters her senior season tied for fourth in shutouts (15), tied for fifth in wins (44) and ranked eighth in innings pitched (379.2). 
•    She also ranks first in strikeouts per seven innings (9.85), second in strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.85) and is fifth in program history with a 1.84 earned run average in 64 career appearances. 
•    Moore tied Babson's single-season record with 63 hits last season and also set a new single-season record with 32 stolen bases. 
•    Her 46 stolen bases are tied for third in Babson history and are just 17 shy of the program record of 63 held by Andrea Cartullo '07. 

NOTEABLE
•    Moore, who led the Beavers with 16 multi-hit games last year, enters the 2024 season riding an 11-game hitting streak and reached base in each of the final 14 contests. 
•    Karamouzis was second on the team last season with six multi-RBI games. 

NEW FACES YOUNG AND OLD
•    Along with its nine-player first-year class, the Green and White added a trio of graduate transfers to its roster ahead of the 2024 campaign. 
•    Cassidy Musco earned All-NESCAC first-team honors in 2023 after batting a career-best .403 with nine doubles and 27 runs scored for Bates, while Jackie Hill was named to the All-NESCAC second team for the second time in her career thanks to a senior campaign at Colby that saw her hit .325 with seven doubles, eight triples, five home runs and 29 runs batted in. 
•    Michaela Russell missed last year due to injury but earned All-NESCAC first-team recognition in 2022 at Trinity after batting .418 with 10 doubles, three triples, 23 stolen bases and 26 runs scored in 32 games. 

NUMBERS TO KNOW
•    Now in his 25th season leading the Beavers, Canan begins the 2024 campaign just 22 wins shy of 600 for his career. 
•    The Beavers went 16-4 when allowing two runs or fewer last spring.
•    Babson has won 48 of 50 games over the last two seasons when leading after five innings.
•    The Green and White went 17-2 when outhitting its opponents in 2023.

UP NEXT
•    Following the Leadoff Classic, the Beavers travel to central Florida for 10 games over six days beginning on March 9.