The Cal Poly softball team will open its season in San Diego with the Campbell/Cartier Classic. The tournament will run from Thursday through Sunday and the Mustangs will face San Diego State University, UC Los Angeles, Oklahoma State University, Cal State Berkeley and Sacramento State University.
The Mustangs finished second in the Big West in 2005, just behind Long Beach State, with a record of 15-6 in conference and 35-16 overall. Coach Jenny Condon enters into her second season at Cal Poly after being named the 2005 Big West Coach of the Year. She is joined by assistant coaches Keira Goerl and Claire Sua, along with volunteer assistant Roni Sparrey.
Returning to the 2006 roster are multiple Big West award recipients.
Now in her sophomore season at Cal Poly, pitcher Robyn Kontra was named to the Big West first team as well as given the honor of Big West Freshman Pitcher of the Year. Making the Big West second team in 2005 was returning outfielder Lisa Modglin. Shannon Brooks, Cal Poly’s batting average leader in 2005, was given Big West honorable mention as were returners Jackie Gehrke-Jones and Sarah Iwata.
Cal Poly will face off first against San Diego State, the sixth place finishers of the Mountain West Conference. The Aztecs maintained an overall record of 27-30 in 2005. They return seven starters, including outfielder Kristen Carranza who recorded 22 runs-batted-in last season. Allison smith, an infielder for the Aztecs, recorded 12 runs for 2005. On the mound for SDSU will be Celena Velasquez who maintained an earned-run-average of 1.19.
The weekend schedule will begin on Thursday with Cal Poly facing SDSU at 5p.m., then UCLA at 7 p.m. On Friday Cal Poly will play Oklahoma State at 3 p.m. On Saturday the Mustangs meet the Bruins for a 1 p.m. game and the tournament will conclude on Sunday after Cal Poly plays Sacramento State at 10 a.m.