Yellowjackets Favored to Defend GNAC Crown in 2010

BILLINGS, Mont. – 2009 was a record setting year for the Montana State Billings softball program. The team won 39 games, the most in program history, won the Great Northwest Athletic Conference and took home three of the leagues’ top honors. For the second consecutive year, MSUB has been voted as the preseason favorite to win the title, the conference office announced Thursday afternoon.

“It’s an honor to be viewed as one of the top teams by your peers,” said head coach Anthony Stone. “I certainly am grateful for the year that we had in 2009, but, this being 2010, all of that is over now and looking ahead, we do have our work cut out for us. Each team in this conference is highly competitive and if we get caught up in what we did last year, we aren’t going to go very far. We have to concentrate on improving every day and if we can do that, then we will be successful.”

The Yellowjackets actually tied 2008 GNAC champion, Western Oregon, for first place with 31 points, but MSUB received three of the six first place votes, one more than WOU (2). Central Washington was voted third in the polling and had one first place vote, while Western Washington was fourth, Saint Martin’s fifth and Northwest Nazarene in sixth.

MSUB is also getting national attention early this season, representing the GNAC as the only school to be receiving votes in the NFCA Division II Preseason Top 25 poll. The Yellowjackets received three votes in that preseason poll.

A year ago, Montana State  Billings led the GNAC in both batting average (.302) and earned run average (2.55) on the way to earning the GNAC’s automatic NCAA West Region playoff berth.

The Yellowjackets, however, return just two .300 hitters from that team – shortstop Whitney Whittemore (5-6, Sr., Puyallup, WA – Bellevue CC) and catcher Kelly Parsons (5-6, Jr., Seattle, WA – Mt. Rainier).

Whittemore, an honorable mention all-star selection, finished 12th in the conference batting race with a .324 average, while Parsons, who hit six home runs, ranked 18th with a .307 average in earning first team all-conference honors.

Also back from last year’s starting lineup is second baseman Stevie Howard (5-2, Sr., Prineville, OR – Crook County), who hit .272. 

Among the other returnees only Jenna VanEykeren (5-6, So., Las Vegas, NV – Centennial), who started 14 games behind the plate, four at third base and four as the designated player, had as many as 50 at bats.  She hit .270 in 74 official at bats.

The only other returnee in the circle for coach Anthony Stone (67-38, 2 years) in addition to Conder, who fanned 151 hitters in 129 1/3 innings, is Josie Grotbo (5-8, So., Helena, MT), who won six of seven decisions and had a 4.50 ERA.

Stone, the GNAC’s 2009 Co-Coach-of-the-Year along with CWU’s Gary Frederick, did however  add four junior college all-stars to his roster, including infielder-catcher Kaycee Hoffman (5-9, Jr., Canby, OR – Chemeketa CC),  who batted .452 and had 11 home runs and 36 RBIs in earning NWAACC Southern Region first-team all-star honors.

Also new are utility player Tasha Maier (5-8, Jr., Missoula, MT – Mt. Hood CC), infielder Angela Lingle (5-7, Jr., McMinnville, OR – Chemeketa) and outfielder Rachel Eisenmann (5-6, Jr., Missoula, MT – Spokane Falls CC).

Maier batted .296 and had two home runs and 22 RBI last season at Mt. Hood after earning second team all-star honors as a freshman.

Lingle was also a second team all-star selection at Chemeketa in 2008, while Eisenmann was a second team pick as a freshman at Spokane Falls CC.  Last year as a sophomore she hit .311.

The Yellowjackets will be tested early as they host the inaugural MSUB Desert Stinger in Las Vegas, NV, Feb.12-14. MSUB will then start conference play Feb. 27, against Western Washington. In the middle of the conference season, the Yellowjackets will take a break and travel to Turlock, CA, for the West Region Tournament of Champions (Mar. 26-28) playing five games against west region opponents. MSUB then finishes their conference schedule with four of the final six weekends being played at Cenex Stadium.

Great Northwest Coaches Poll                 2009 Records        Pts
1.   Montana State Billings (3)                         39-17, 30-10           31        
Western Oregon (2)                                    23-23, 20-15           31                    
3.   Central Washington (1)                            33-20, 29-11           26
4.   Western Washington                                20-26, 16-20           18
5.   Saint Martin’s                                          16-37, 14-25           12
6.   Northwest Nazarene                                 9-44, 5-38            8