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LSUA Generals find themselves third in coaches poll
(Courtesy: @LSUASoftball/Twitter)

LSUA Generals find themselves third in coaches poll

ALEXANDRIA, La. — The pressure is already mounting for the LSUA Generals softball team and the season is still a couple of months from getting underway. Christmas came a few days early for the girls, as the team found themselves ranked third in the Red River Athletic Conference preseason poll that was released late last month.

Co-head coaches Adam and Annalyn Burch, who are also husband and wife, return for their fifth season at the helm of the Generals coaching staff, but will undoubtedly have their work cut out for them. The club is coming off of a season that saw them tie for the conference title, finishing 22-14 overall, along with an impressive 15-3 record in league play.

The Generals knocked off an admirable foe in Jarvis Christian in a makeup game to pull even with Texas A&M Texarkana to jointly share the conference crown. The team will be forced to navigate life on the diamond this season without reigning RRAC Player of the Year, Bailey Hughes. The Denham Springs product led the league in homers with seven, runs scored with 29 and slugging percentage with an impressive .700. Her offensive production will be greatly missed as she also tied for the league lead with 27 RBIs while collecting a Conference Player of the Week award.

The preseason poll has Houston-Victoria ranked first heading into the 2022 campaign. Last year’s conference tournament champs collected eight of the 11 first place votes to earn the distinction.

Coming in second is Texas A&M Texarkana, who received two first place votes in the poll, closely followed by the Generals. In what can certainly be described as a snub, the final first place vote went to Jarvis Christian, who finished fifth in the latest poll. But from an accumulative points perspective, Texas A&M Texarkana earned 100 points from their votes, followed by LSUA with 99. Jarvis Christian is miles back with a paltry 67 points.

Despite the departure of Hughes, the Generals will have some returning talent looking to carry the baton. Last year, the team had seven players named to the All-RRAC first team, and four of those players will be returning. Seniors Lauryn McMahon and Eryn Sanchez will be expected to pick up much of the offensive slack.

McMahon, a right-handed hitting catcher out of Rosepine, batted an impressive .433 last year to lead the conference and crossed the plate 27 times, which was good enough to earn her All-Louisiana honorable mention.

Sanchez, a Spring, Texas product that pitches and is a utility knife of sorts in the infield, is fresh off a season that saw her pick up 11 wins and just one loss, along with a 2.63 ERA. Her numbers were even more impressive in league play where she posted an 8-0 record along with a 1.75 ERA.

The Generals will begin their defense of last year’s shared championship Feb. 5 against an opponent that has yet to be announced. The club’s first games against top ranked University of Houston-Victoria comes as a doubleheader on April 2.

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