KALAMAZOO, Mich. - WMU Softball is wasting no time taking on the nation's best as the Broncos open the season against defending national champion and preseason No. 1 Arizona State at the Kajikawa Classic (Feb. 9-12).
The Broncos will open this season with six games at the Kajikawa Classic with two of their opponents ranking in the top 25 nationally. WMU takes on defending national champ ASU at 7 p.m. ET on Feb. 9 with game stats available via GameTracker.
WMU continues the tournament with a pair of night games against Utah (8:30 p.m. ET) and New Mexico (10:30 p.m. ET), respectively. The Broncos follow with Cal-State Northridge (1:30 p.m. ET) and Bradley (8:30 p.m. ET) on Feb. 11.
Western Michigan closes the event against No. 9/14 Tennessee on Feb. 12 at 11 a.m. ET.
The Broncos boast the reigning Mid-American Conference Player and Coach of the Year in Gracie Barstad and Kathy Leitke, respectively. Barstad hit a team best .373 in 2011, matching Julie Liljeberg (1989) for the second highest batting average in a season in program history.
WMU brings back three of the team's top five hitters in 2012 as Courtney Rousseau (.286), Meredith Whitney (.277) and Tara Buchanan (.265) all return for their senior campaign.
Speaking of Whitney, not only is she the team's third ranked hitter entering the season, she is also on the brink of rewriting the pitching record book at Western Michigan. The Scottsdale, Ariz., native is a mere 99 strikeouts from surpassing Bonni Kinne's career K's mark of 593 punch outs.
Whitney is not only near the top of the pitching records but ranks second on the career home runs list with 14 round trippers, between program leader Lexi Jager (25) and Erin Malloch (12).
Jennifer Tschetter and Whitney will both be playing in the Kajikawa Classic for the fourth and final time in their back yard. The duo were high school teammates at Desert Mountain High School in Scottsdale, Ariz.
A season ago, Western Michigan took on four nationally ranked teams in their first 10 games of the year (No. 10 Arizona State, No. 9 Oklahoma, No. 5 Alabama, No. 16 Missouri). In fact, the Broncos faced seven nationally ranked teams in 2011 with a rematch against Missouri No. 13/16) and two games against Michigan, ranked No. 2 during the first meeting and No. 17 to finish the season.
WMU welcomes seven newcomers in 2012, including a freshman class that boasts six.
The Broncos are predicted to defend their 2011 MAC tournament title, chosen to win the West Division with the second most first place votes (9).
