CLEVELAND, Ga. (Feb. 10, 2021) – The Truett McConnell University softball team, who received a preseason ranking of No. 9 in the 2021 NAIA national top 25 poll, is set to open their season on Friday afternoon. The Lady Bears will take on No. 10 Georgia Gwinnett College on the road at 1:00 p.m., and 3:00 p.m.
 
TMU, the 2018 and 2019 Appalachian Athletic Conference regular season champions, will be coming off a 14-3, 5-1 AAC record, which was cut short in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
"Anytime something you love is taken away from you it hurts," Head Coach/Athletic Director Jenni Shepard said. "After a promising start last year our season was cut short, it made the girls realize how each game matters and should be played as your potential last because you never know when that may be. We haven't played a contest of any sort, outside of inters quads with ourselves, since March 11, 2020, so the girls are itching to get out there. We have done all we can do in practice at this point to prepare for our season and now we just need to play games.
 
The preseason ranking shows how great of a start we had last year and how strong our returning squad is. This year we will be battling the rain, which is always an issue, but we also will have game changes due to COVID-19, so we are just trying to remain flexible and be thankful for every opportunity we have to play."
 
Karley Hobbs, a two-time AAC pitcher of the year and TMU softball's first-ever All-American, is amongst the group of key returners. Hobbs has a career earned run average of 1.53 and ended the 2020 season ranked 17th in the NAIA, alongside fifth-year Bethany Hyde, with seven wins. Hyde, who will also be returning for this year's team, leads TMU's pitching staff with a total of 313 career strikeouts.
 
"The addition of the new lights has greatly helped our practices," Shepard said. "We have been able to start later therefore we have had our entire team there for most every practice and we utilize the lights multiple times a week. The girls have gotten accustomed to playing in cold temperatures so this will be beneficial as we begin our season with weather fluctuating between 55 degrees and 32 degrees day to day. We are excited to play games under the lights and have adjusted many of our game times to later in the afternoon, especially in March and April."
 
TMU's regular season schedule features two nationally-ranked opponents; No. 10 GGC and AAC foe No. 21 Reinhardt University.
 
"Our team itself is a strong group," Shepard said. "We have lots of talent and potential and we are encouraged by adjustments we have been making in practice. If the team can continue to come together and play for each other the sky is the limit this season."
 
Keep up with when the Lady Bears are in action throughout the season here.