2024 Mighty Oaks Softball Set To Start
Carneys Point, NJ. – The Salem Community College softball program enters its second year of competition since returning from the college's hiatus from intercollegiate athletics, when they will travel to Whiteville North Carolina to open the 2024 Spring season Wednesday March 6 when they will face off against Southeastern Community College-Whiteville in a double header. The Mighty Oaks will play ten games in five days as the team will travel south to North Carolina and South Carolina over the colleges Spring Break.
Head Coach Angel Rodriguez enters is second year as head coach and has jump started the program in a big way qualifying for the Region 19 tournament in his first year at the helm. Coach will be looking to improve on last years season with yet another strong recruiting effort by Rodriguez. "We bring back a great group of sophomores who've have been great leaders and we've added some talented freshman," said Rodriguez. "Our team connected very quickly which led to a great team atmosphere".
Nine sophomores return from a squad that went 16-16 in the 2023 regular season and qualified for the Region 19 post season. Among those returners is sophomore infielder Haylee Pickrell. Pickerell was a first team All Garden State Athletic Conference and second team All Region 19 standout performer for the Mighty Oaks. Pickrell batted in impressive 517 for Salem with 12 double, 5 triples and 2 home runs. Also making second team All-Region 19 are returners Karyn Trice and Vaye Savage. In the outfield for SCC Trice batted 500 to go along with 27 stolen bases. Savage saw most of her time last season leading the way behind the plate for the Mighty Oaks. She led the Mighty Oaks with 4 home runs while batting 412. "Catching, we have really good athletes that will make a lot of noise this year," added Rodriguez.
Coach Rodriguez will look to two sophomores to lead the way on the mound for the Mighty Oaks. "As far as pitching, I look at two returning pitchers, Morgan and Caitlin to make a real impact and control the game, "said Coach Rodriguez. Sophomore Morgan Mecham led the Mighty Oaks with 89 innings with a 4.56 ERA to go with a team high 76 strike outs. Caitlin LaGreca wasn't far behind with 81 innings with a 6.02 ERA and 57 strikeouts.
On the infield freshman Ella Hayes will be counted on by Rodriguez to make an impact as a freshman for the Mighty Oaks. "We will look to Ella Hayes to be productive on offense and defense," said Coach.
"Overall, we sit in a positive position." said Coach Rodriguez. "We need to compete to best of our abilities and continue to learn and grow together".
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