Season Preview: Charlotte

2011 Charlotte 49ers

Charlotte 49ers
Record (A10 Play): 40-18 (15-5)
Coach (Record): Aimee Devos, 17th
Returning Starters: Kendra McCall OF, Whitney Williams OF, Tenaya Tucker C, Briana Gwaltney 1B, Lindsey Holloman 3B, Natalyn Blanton DP, Lorena Vela 2B, Katy Hackett P
Other Returnees: Chelsea Stamey IF, Brittany Brinkley IF, Carol Buchan OF, Virginia Prince IF, Nikki Gayle OF
Key Losses: Emily Jeffery P, Serena Smith CF, Keri Palma SS
Newcomers: Kalie Lang P/1B, Chelsea Ingersoll C/IF, Jalisa Rock IF, Katie Watkins P
Outlook:
The coaches in the A10 clearly have a higher expectation of this squad than I do, as they picked Charlotte to finish 3rd. However, I am not sure this squad is nearly as good as last year's. Frankly, without Emily Jeffery Charlotte has no shutdown pitcher in the circle and they will need an impressive output from their offense to be in the same category as UMass, Fordham, and St. Joseph's. From last year's performance, frankly I am not expecting a top 4 finish out of this year's squad. Coach DeVos has gotten the squad to the A10 tournament each year Charlotte has been in the A10, but this year will definitely be her toughest.

Katy Hackett

In the circle, the 49ers need to replace one of their all time greats in Jeffery, who ended her career as the school's career strikeouts. She is not the sort of pitcher that comes around often. Jeffery's loss was also compounded by the fact that highly touted freshman Tess Swing left the team after fall ball. Coach DeVos went to work and was able to bring Kalie Lang, a sophomore transfer from Northwest Florida State College. Lang will join the lone returnee, Katy Hackett in the circle. Hackett is a very experienced senior pitcher, but it seems as though the scouting report is out on her; she has not been able to replicate her freshman year performance. Hackett is crafty pitcher who is not going to blow the ball by anyone in terms of speed, instead she relies on her movement and he changeup to keep batters off balance. In addition to Lang, freshman Katie Watkins also joins the 49ers. Watkins, Lang, and Hackett will be a true staff this year and they will all need to bring their A game for the 49ers to be successful in 2011.

Kendra McCall

The Charlotte offense starts with the speed at the top of the order in Whitney Williams and Kendra McCall. Williams and McCall both hit over 0.300 in 2010 and combined for 58 SB. They get the lineup going for the 49ers, but hopefully they will have some power behind them. Serena Smith and her 7 HR and 51 RBI are gone leaving a serious power void in the 49ers' lineup. Tenaya Tucker and Briana Gwaltney are back to provide some power, but the 49ers are going to need more than that. The 49ers' 0.272 BA was adequate, however the 24 HR that Charlotte had is not going to cut it in 2011. Charlotte needs more powerful bats to counter the big bats of Fordham and UMass. The Charlotte offense is good, but will it be good enough without Emily Jeffery in the circle.

On defense, the 49ers are a quality defensive squad, they will need to replace Keri Palma at SS and Serena Smith in CF, but they have some good  fielders returning. Lindsey Holloman had a solid season at 3B and Briana Gwaltney should also be back at 1B, the middle infield may be a little inexperienced, but I expect Charlotte to have a solid defense out on the field. It also doesn't hurt that Charlotte is out on the field more than any other team in the A10 due to their convenient geographic location.

Schedule:
Coach Aimee DeVos loves some home-cooking and the 49ers will play 13 straight games at home before doing some light regional travel. The 49ers open up A10 with UMass so we should find out right away how Charlotte will fare in 2011. The UMass series should serve as a barometer for Charlotte, but the Rhode Island DH should inform us of just how good they are. Charlotte may be battling with URI for one of those final A10 tournament berths and every win is going to be critical this year. Charlotte needs to make the A10 tournament this year since they are hosting it. It would be a big embarrassment if they could not make the tournament. Charlotte may be in for a rude awakening come conference play as their non conference schedule is one of the weakest in the A10 some of the highlights include matchups with North Carolina and Iona. Frankly, the 49ers need to have a tougher schedule. They wasted a golden opportunity to fight for an at-large bid last year by not scheduling tough games. Emily Jeffery could have gotten them there, but instead the 49ers picked up 40 wins against a weak schedule, including 6 combined losses to UMass and Fordham. This team could surprise me, but I am not expecting a top 4 finish.