Big Green Open Season at the Holy City Showdown

Friday, February 22

Charleston, S.C. (Charleston Southern)

2:00 PM

Dartmouth College

Appalachian State

Photo by: Doug Austin

Big Green Open Season at the Holy City Showdown

2/21/2019 12:12:00 PM | Softball

Dartmouth plays five games in its opening weekend in Charleston, S.C.

By: Mike Miezejeski

HOLY CITY SHOWDOWN – Charleston, S.C.
Feb. 22 vs. Appalachian State (3-3) – 2 PM (LIVE STATS)
Feb. 22 at Charleston Southern (4-8*) – 4:30 PM (LIVE STATS)
Feb. 23 vs. Radford (4-1*) – 11 AM (LIVE STATS)
Feb. 23 at College of Charleston (5-5*) – 3:30 PM (LIVE STATS)
Feb. 24 vs. Iowa State (3-5*) – 9 AM (LIVE STATS)

OPENING WEEKEND
Dartmouth starts its season in Charleston, S.C. in the Holy City Showdown. The Big Green begin 2019 on Friday with a doubleheader against Appalachian State and Charleston Southern at Charleston Southern. They then head to the College of Charleston play two on Saturday against Radford and C of C before wrapping up the trip Sunday morning against Iowa State. The Big Green are the only team in the tournament who open their season this weekend.

2018 IN REVIEW

Dartmouth had another strong season in 2018, finishing 22-18 overall and 16-5 in the Ivy League, securing the regular season championship for the first time since 2015.
The Big Green were nearly unbeatable at the Dartmouth Softball Complex going 11-1 at home in the regular season.
It was a challenge in the Ivy League Championship Series as the Big Green were swept by Harvard in a best-of-three.

ALL-IVY RETURNERS

Dartmouth returns five all-conference selections from 2018.
Senior captains Morgan Martinelli and Taylor Ward were both named to the first team along with the 2018 Rookie of the Year, Schae Nelson.
Junior Micah Schroder and sophomore pitcher Heather Turner also return after collecting Second Team All-Conference honors last season.

COACHING STAFF

Jennifer Williams was announced as the seventh head coach in program history in October. Williams comes to Dartmouth from MIT, where she was the head coach for eight seasons, becoming the winningest coach in program history.
Williams guided the Engineers to a 168-122-1 record, which includes a 122-46-1 mark since 2015. In 2018, Williams led MIT to a 38-11-1 record, breaking 18 team records in the process and winning its first-ever New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) championship.
The team also earned a spot in the DIII College World Series, finishing seventh in the nation.
Patricia Cipicchio is also new to the Big Green, she comes to Dartmouth after spending last year at Penn where she helped the Quakers to the 39th best batting average in the nation (.297) which was the program's highest mark since 2004 and the 32nd most stolen bases per game (1.54).
Olivia Watkins returns to the staff for her second season with the Big Green.

SCOUTING APPALACHIAN STATE

The Mountaineers are 3-3 on the season after playing in the Elon Opening Weekend Tournament and a doubleheader against North Carolina A&T State.
App State won its game on opening day, 6-3, over Longwood. They were then run ruled in five innings against Elon (10-2), fell in extras to Eastern Kentucky (7-6) and lost again to Elon (4-0).
Last Friday, the Mountaineers swept North Carolina A&T State, 15-0 and 12-0, both in five innings.
Keri White leads the team in batting average (.455) and has four RBI, one double and one triple.
Three other members of the team are batting above .300, they are Sidney Russell (.333), Haley Stewart (.313) and Alison Durrence (.313).
Durrence leads the team with four home runs and 11 RBI.
Sydney Holland has a 1.80 ERA and a1-2 record in 11.2 innings, while Kenzie Longanecker currently has a 2-0 record, a 3.78 ERA and 15 strikeouts in 16.2 innings.
Jenny Dodd was named to the Preseason All-Sun Belt Team.
This is the first all-time meeting between Dartmouth and Appalachian State.

SCOUTING CHARLESTON SOUTHERN

Charleston Southern is currently 4-8 and they play one more game Thursday afternoon at South Carolina before they meet with Dartmouth on Friday.
The four wins for the Bucs are against Dayton (9-1), Maryland Eastern Shore (5-1/10-2), and Detroit Mercy (10-2).
Charleston Southern is hitting .275 as a team. Jade Gandara leads the team with a .367 batting average and 13 RBI, she has one home run and three doubles.
Annie Bakenhus (.344), Caitlyn Emberson (.323), Meghan Gagliano (.313), Sarah Brown (.297) and Madison Koger (.296) are all having strong starts.
In the circle, Arizona Pilgrim has a 3.76 ERA and has struck out 28 batters in 41.0 innings.
Teams are hitting .298 against the Buccaneers.
This is the first all-time meeting between Dartmouth and Charleston Southern.

SCOUTING RADFORD

Radford began its season with a tournament in Wilmington, N.C. and had a successful weekend, going 4-1.
The Highlanders started with a 5-2 win over UNC Wilmington and kept it going later same day with a 7-1 victory over Rhode Island.
On the second day of the tournament, Radford beat Howard, 16-3, before taking its first loss of 2019, 4-3 to URI.
The Highlanders finished the weekend with a convincing 15-4 over Howard.
Radford is hitting .344 as a team and they are led by Hannah Medlam who is hitting .533 with four RBI, one double and a triple.
Other Highlanders who have had a strong start with the bat are Sydney Fisher (.476), Sofia Tapia (.353), Maggie Rowe (.353), Destiny Freeman (.333) and Talia Douglas (.316).
Radford is a fast team, they have 25 stolen bases on the season.
This is the first all-time meeting between Dartmouth and Radford.

SCOUTING THE COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON

The Cougars have already played 10 games before the Holy City Showdown and are 5-5 so far in 2019.
C of C's wins this season are over Purdue (8-4), Pitt (10-4), Wichita State (4-1), Central Michigan (3-1) and Northern Iowa (4-0).
The Cougars are coming into South Carolina on a four-game losing streak and play Radford and App State before meeting with Dartmouth.
Lexee Emanuel leads the Cougars with a .414 batting average and has eight RBI, three doubles and a home run.
Kelly Sinclair (.381), Madi Brown (.357), Chandler Sparkman (.333) and Yari Felix (.300) are both hitting .300 or over.
Brittany Vicary is hitting .286 and leads the team with 10 RBI, she also has three doubles and two triples.
Izzy Berouty leads the team with a 2.52 ERA and has a 2-2 record in 25.0 innings. She also has one shutout.
The College of Charleston won the only meeting between the Cougars and the Big Green. It was a 2-1 win for C of C in 2015.

SCOUTING IOWA STATE

The Cyclones come into the Holy City Showdown with a 3-5 record after playing in the Joan Graf Classic in Tallahassee and the Demarini Invitational in California.
Despite its record, Iowa State has played well and has fallen victim to a tough schedule.
The Cyclones played defending national champion Florida State twice and lost 1-0 and 5-0. They also met with Stanford and fell 2-1 in eight innings.
Iowa State's three wins are over UNC Greensboro (4-2), Colorado State (6-5) and Portland State (3-2).
The Cyclones are hitting .170 as a team and are led by Sami Williams (.280).
The pitching staff has shined, Iowa State has a team ERA of 2.96. Emma Hylen has a 2.75 ERA, a 2-2 record and 19 strikeouts in 20.1 innings, while Savannah Sanders has a 2.83 ERA in 17.1 innings.
Tatum Ksiazek has not allowed a run in 5.2 innings and has struck out six batters.
Dartmouth defeated Iowa State 8-7 in the only meeting between the teams in 2013.

FOLLOW ALONG
To keep up-to-date on all the action over the weekend, you can visit the Dartmouth softball schedule by clicking HERE and finding the links for live video and live stats associated with the games.

WHAT'S AHEAD?
Dartmouth heads further south to Orlando, Fla. For the UCF invite where it will face Louisiana Tech, UCF, Toledo and Florida State beginning on Mar. 1 through the third.