DAVIS, Calif. -- By most measures, the UC Davis softball team opens its 2020 season with a relative wealth of experience. Eight players on the roster started at least 38 games a season ago, including five who won All-Big West Conference honors. The Aggies launch their new year with the four-day, seven-team NorCal Kickoff tournament, which begins on Thursday.

The likes of Boise State, California Baptist, Idaho State, Saint Mary's, Santa Clara and UC Santa Barbara visit La Rue Field for the first of two tournaments hosted jointly at UC Davis and Sacramento State.

UP NEXT
What: NorCal Classic
Who: Boise State, California Baptist, Idaho State, Saint Mary's, Santa Clara, UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara
When: Thursday-Sunday, Feb. 6-9
Where: La Rue Field (Davis, Calif.) 
Tournament Central: https://ucdavisaggies.com/sports/2020/1/29/sports-w-softbl-spec-rel-2020-norcal-kickoff.aspx

"This will be fact-finding, get-our-feet-wet, see-where-we're-at weekend," said head coach Erin Thorpe, now in her sixth year at the Aggie helm. "We only lost two starters from last year's team, so I think for the most part we have a lot of experience. But there still is going to be that piece of who is filling in where and what's happening, especially with our pitching staff."

Of the seven UC Davis honorees on last year's All-Big West honor roll, five will be in action during this weekend: outfielder Alyse Rojas, outfielder Marisa Given, shortstop Isabella Leon, pitcher Katie Kibby, and first baseman Maddie Rojas. This crew returns from a team that went 39-14 overall, setting a Division I-era program record for wins. Alyse Rojas (.348/.404/.476) and Given (.329/.366/.500) rated among the league's top offensive contributors, while Given and Maddie Rojas each finished with .299 batting averages. Kibby posted 12 wins, a 3.17 ERA and a 1.264 WHIP in 17 starts in the circle. Also among the returning starters are catcher Riley Siegel (.248/.351/.357), defensive player Megan Bower (five homers) and outfielder Marissa Jauregui (team-high 10 sacrifice hits).

The two absences are significant: third baseman and honorable mention All-Big West pick Meghan Bradbury led the Aggies in home runs (9), extra-base hits (21), slugging (.556) and OPS (.944); while Big West Pitcher of the Year and second-team All-American Brooke Yanez led the Big West with a 25-7 record, a 1.03 ERA and 273 strikeouts – a.k.a. the Triple Crown of pitching. Bradbury graduated last spring while Yanez transferred during the offseason.

The voids at the hot corner and the pitching circle will provide ample opportunities for other players to step in – and step up. For example, freshmen Kenedi Brown and Taylor Fitzgerald will now have an increased role in the pitching circle. Brown, a 6-foot-2 righty from Elk Grove, won first-team All-Delta League honors after going 12-4 with 148 strikeouts in 101.1 innings for Sheldon High School in 2019. Fitzgerald, also an area product out of Rocklin High, earned a pair of All-Sierra Foothill League awards and joined Brown on the Sacramento Bee All-Metro squad for her 1.57 ERA as a senior.

"I'm stoked to see them," Thorpe said. "They both have a ton of potential. As with all freshmen, you never really know what you're going to get when you put them out on the field. That void in the pitching staff is the optimum opportunity to get that experience, and to see how they grow, adjust, and learn how to be a dominant pitcher at this level. I think that's the exciting part for us as coaches, to see that development happen."

A trio of infielders also join UC Davis this year to form what Thorpe describes as the strongest all-around freshman class in her time at UC Davis. Slugger Sarah Starks posted a career OPS of 1.298 in three seasons at Christopher High in Gilroy, Leah Polson hit a career-high .368 while playing three different infield positions at Oak Ridge High in the foothills. Alyssa Ito was a defensive standout in basketball, volleyball and softball; and hit as high as .373 at the plate during her junior year at San Benito HS in Hollister.

Polson and Starks will battle returners Alexis Villalobos and Claudia Kim for Bradbury's old spot at third, while Kisling could potentially slide over to third from time to time. Thorpe expects to platoon several players at that position to see who emerges during the early going of the 2020 season.

In fact, part of the challenge for the coaching staff will be determining how to best employ the team's high amount of experience. "That's what we'll have to figure out in these first few weeks and maybe even our first month. We do have a lot of versatility, so it will come down to who jumps into this environment, handles the pressure, and competes," she said. 

Additionally, the strength of the team's offense should also provide some cushion for the relatively young pitching staff. After all, the Aggies scored 249 runs in 2019 – the program's highest total since the 2003 Division II championship. 

Finally, the NorCal Kickoff lineup provides a good mixture of both established and emerging opponents to give UC Davis a good overall glimpse of itself. Boise State went 36-16 and ranked No. 35 in the year-end RPI in 2019. Meanwhile, California Baptist is a first-time opponent in its second year of the Division I reclassification. 

"Every team up and down the coast comes out with a handful of great wins every year. We need to make sure we never underestimate anybody and that we expect that anybody can win on any given day," says Thorpe. "We see some of those teams in this first tournament, so I think it's important to give everything that we've got in every game."

PINCH HITS
• Besides the five freshmen, UC Davis softball has another new face in the dugout: former Hawai'i standout Alex Gomez replaced Gina Carbonatto as an assistant coach last September... Carbonatto took over as head coach for Santa Clara, one of UC Davis' two opponents during Saturday's portion of this weekend's tourney.

• Speaking of familiar coaches, NorCal Classic guest Boise State is absolutely no stranger to UC Davis head coach Erin Thorpe, who guided the Broncos from their inaugural season of 2009 and remained at that helm until 2014... Thorpe posted 174 wins at BSU.

• The team's .277 batting average and 249 runs in 2019 stood as the most since the historic D-II championship season of 2003, but several other offense categories became high-water marks for UC Davis' Division I era (2008-present): hits (381), home runs (34), RBI (217), slugging (.408) and total bases (561)... The pitching staff also combined for numerous D-I era highs, including ERA (1.859), WHIP (1.110), strikeouts (342) and shutouts (16)... The 39 wins marked the first time since the final reclassification era that UC Davis broke the 30-win plateau (31 in 2007).

• While 14 of the 34 home runs depart from last year's roster (nine by Bradbury, five by Yanez), UC Davis returns 202 of its 247 runs scored, with Alyse Rojas (44) and Isabella Leon (43) leading the charge... Only two Aggie teams had broken the double-century mark in the Div. I era: 207 in 2017, 205 in 2008... Rojas needs 34 runs to become the 11th Aggie to amass 100 in a career, and just the second to reach that number in her third season (Sharlie Cunningham scored 145 in her three-year career).

• Senior Maddie Rojas and junior Alyse Rojas have the chance to go down in Aggie history as the program's most productive sister tandem... In five combined seasons, the two have combined for a .302 average (210-for-695), 110 runs and 104 RBI... The Shurrum sisters of Kate (1990-91, 1993-94) and Holly (1996-99) combined for a .287 average (267-for-931), 210 runs and 110 RBI in seven combined seasons... The Rojases have three total All-Big West awards (two first-team nods for Alyse, one honorable mention for Maddie), while the Shurrums had three combined All-Northern California Athletic Conference accolades (two first teams for Kate, one second team for Holly).

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