Guilford College softball ready to start playing hard: Begin season with highest ranking ever!

GUILFORD SOFTBALL TEAM RECEIVES FIVE-FIRST PLACE VOTES, PICKED THIRD IN ODAC COACHES’ POLL

Greensboro, N.C. (2/14/11) — Old Dominion Athletic
Conference (ODAC) softball coaches picked Guilford College third in their
preseason poll, the highest ranking in the Quakers’ history. Guilford’s
five first-place votes were the most of any team in the ODAC, and Guilford
received 77 points. Six-time ODAC champion Lynchburg College sits atop the
poll with 85 points and two of the 10 first-place votes. Roanoke College was
picked second with 80 points and one first-place vote. Bridgewater College
sits in fourth place with 73 points and one first-place vote. Reigning ODAC
champion Eastern Mennonite College is ranked sixth, and received the last
first-place vote.

Guilford’s softball team enters its ninth season with fifth-year head coach Dennis Shores after one of the most successful seasons in program history. The Quakers finished with a 28-12-1 record in 2010, 13-5 in the ODAC. Shores returns eight starters and 13 letter winners from last year’s squad.

Junior outfielder *Kimberly Keys (Hamlet, N.C./Richmond Senior)*, a 2010
First Team All-ODAC pick, is back after hitting .463 with team-highs in runs
batted in (46) and hits (63). She is joined by senior outfielder *Courtney
Kozar (Laurens, S.C./District 55)*, who returns after hitting .403 while
getting walked a team-high 16 times. Senior *Julie Langseth (Lexington,
Mass./Lexington) *led the ODAC in home runs(10), and led Guilford in
slugging percentage (.693).

Junior pitchers *Jessica Burcham (Lexington, N.C./South Davidson)* and *Shelby
Bowser (Winston-Salem, N.C./Ledford)* also return for the Quakers. *Burcham
* was third in the ODAC with 101 strikeouts over 99.1 innings pitched, and *
Bowser* was fourth in the ODAC in walks allowed, walking only 24 batters in
91.1 innings.

The Quakers open the 2011 season Saturday Feb. 19 at Ferrum
College at 2:00 p.m. Guilford’s first home contest comes against ODAC-rival
Randolph-Macon College March 13.

* *

*2011 ODAC Softball Preseason Poll*

*(#) denotes first place votes*

1. Lynchburg (2) 85 pts.

2. Roanoke (1) 80 pts.

3. Guilford (5) 77 pts.

4. Bridgewater (1) 73 pts.

5. Virginia Wesleyan 66 pts.

6. Eastern Mennonite (1) 58 pts.

7. Randolph-Macon 50 pts.

8. Randolph 31 pts.

9. Emory & Henry 17 pts.

10. Sweet Briar 13 pts.

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Dave Walters
Guilford College Athletics