Softball | 3/2/2017 3:17:00 PM

FREDONIA, N.Y. -- When he scheduled games for early March, Fredonia Softball Head Coach Tony Ciccarello was hoping to get a jump start on the 2017 season. He had no way of knowing Mother Nature would be so cooperative.

The Blue Devils had at least seven outdoor practices during February -- probably more than the previous 21 Februarys combined. The early on-field training should come in handy when the season opens noon Friday against Keuka College on day one of the Virginia Wesleyan College Beach Bash. 

The Virginia trip will also include single games against Rutgers-Camden (2 p.m. Friday), Eastern (10 a.m. Saturday), and Shenandoah (2 p.m. Saturday). Those four games will serve as a prelude to Fredonia's annual spring trip -- eight games over 12 days in and around Clermont, Fla. starting next Thursday.

Here's a capsule look at the 2017 team and season:

WHO'S BACK? -- Ten players return to the active roster, including senior co-captains and four-year players Erin Mushtare (Oneonta, N.Y.) and Maddy Stavish (Olean, N.Y.). Mushtare has made 73 starts the previous three seasons and is coming off her best season at the plate, a .262 batting average. She will likely open the season in center while Stavish will platoon as the starting catcher with fellow senior Sarah Cuillo (Blasdell, N.Y.), duties they also shared last season. Cuillo's .346 batting average was the best of the three, yet it came in only 26 at-bats. Meanwhile, Stavish did her best work behind the plate. She has a career .965 fielding percentage.  ...

The left side of the infield remains intact with senior Khee Nance (Dunkirk, N.Y.) at short and sophomore Cassidy Herman (Maybrook, N.Y.) at third. Limited by an injury to 21 games last season, Nance batted .361 and stole 11 bases while Herman batted .261 while setting a single-season school record with 121 assists at the hot corner ... Junior first baseman-designated player Katelyn Dennis (Webster, N.Y.) has batted .321 over her first two seasons and will likely see even more playing time this year ... The lone returning pitcher is sophomore Emily Shellenberger (Philadelphia, Pa.). She made 12 starts as a freshman and posted a 5-10 mark, doing her best pitching in the second half of the season.

A pair of juniors, Nikki Lent (Yaphank, N.Y.) and Lauren Pixley (Hamburg, N.Y.), will see considerable time flanking Mushtare in the outfield. Lent, the lone lefty on the roster, batted .333 last season. She has had a solid pre-season in the field and at the plate. Pixley, a rifle-armed left-fielder, batted .256 as a soph after hitting .258 her freshman year ... The team's third catcher is sophomore Mallory Mecca (Derby, N.Y.). She appeared in seven games as a freshman and will look to crack the lineup this year with her bat ... A pre-season injury has proved costly to sophomore right-handed pitcher Jessica Merle (Portland, N.Y.). She will miss the entire 2017 season.

NEWBIES -- There are four freshmen. Two are right-handed pitchers, Katie Yudin (Liverpool, N.Y.) and Sam Seegar (North Tonawanda, N.Y.). Yudin has also practiced in the infield and the outfield, while Seegar may see time at first. Mahogany Barker (Cheektowaga, N.Y.) and Madison Cooley (Geneva, N.Y.) are both infielders. Barker has worked everywhere but first while Cooley has worked at short and second. All will see playing time, especially early in the season.

WHO'S GONE? -- Seven seniors graduated off the 2016 team, among them three players who earned all-conference awards as Blue Devils. Alyssa Morgan was a four-year starter at either second or shortstop and a .381 career hitter, second best in program history. She was a Second Team All SUNYAC pick in 2015. Lindsey Forness won the starting second base job and earned 2015 First Team honors, while Madeline Medina -- the team's first baseman-designated player -- was a 2015 Second Teamer.

COACH'S COMMENTS -- "The potential is there," Ciccarello said. "We're young in the circle, two freshman and one sophomore. We have experience behind the plate and in the outfield. Katelyn (Dennis) didn't play much first base and Khee (Nance) and Cassie (Herman) have one-year experience each at Fredonia. Second base will be rookies. It's an interesting mix."

TURN BACK THE CLOCK -- Friday's games mark the second earliest start in Blue Devil softball history. The 1998 season began on March 2 at Fort Myers, Fla., the first of 10 games in five days -- followed by a break of five weeks before the 11th game of the season was played  ... The latest start to a Fredonia season came during the inaugural 1996 campaign -- an April 16 doubleheader at St. John Fisher.