Tuesday, January 25, 2011

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Two preseason softball polls have been announced and the Lipscomb Lady Bisons received votes in both of them. The Lady Bisons received eight votes in the USA Today/NFCA Top 25 Poll from the National Fastpitch Coaches Association and seven in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll.

“It’s exciting to start the season off this way,” Lady Bisons coach Kristin Ryman said. “We realize that is based off last season and there is still a lot for us to prove.

“It is a nice honor. It shows there are some people out there with respect for our program who are definitely considering us to do some good things again.”

The Lady Bisons won both the A-Sun regular season and tournament championships last season. They posted a 50-13 record, 18-2 in the A-Sun. The 50 wins are a school record for a season along with 29 shutouts. They advanced to the finals of the NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional before losing to host Alabama.

“We don’t want to get too high over this,” Ryman said. “It may be something that we mention, but we try not to put too much emphasis on things like this.

“We have a young team. As coaches we are trying our best not to put them into situations where they will feel a tremendous amount of pressure. They need to have the opportunity to go out and just play and enjoy the games instead of trying to live up to last year’s standards or preseason hype.”

Lipscomb and sixth-year head coach Kristin Ryman returns four starters from last year's squad and nine letterwinners including Whitney Kiihnl, Courtney Billington and Mollie Mitchell all of which earned First Team A-Sun honors. Kiihnl took it a step farther by sweeping the Player and Pitcher of the Year honors for the conference and also became Lipscomb's first NCAA All-American.

The Lady Bisons start the 2011 season on February 11 by playing in the Georgia Tournament hosted by UGA. Lipscomb is set to play five games in the tournament including matchups against Iowa, Maryland and Georgia.

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