Northwest Christian University

EUGENE, Ore. – The start of the 2010 softball season is just a little over a week away for Northwest Christian, and the 19-member Beacon squad is looking forward to proving themselves early and often with a competitive schedule. A collection of seasoned veterans and talented newcomers will face off against some of the best teams in the country as they prepare for a run in the Cascade Collegiate Conference.

One of the most highly anticipated seasons in recent memory will get started with a bang as the Beacons face off against the defending NAIA national champions on day one of the Big League Dreams Tournament, hosted by Simpson University. Sure their first game of the season is against Menlo College, the last-place finisher in the California Pacific Conference in 2009, but game two sees NCU up against California Baptist University, a team that ranks #1 in the NAIA and returns 12 starters from a national champion squad, including the NAIA Pitcher of the Year, Tory Ferreira, who went undefeated and won over 20 games last year as a freshman.

Oh, and game three? That would be Point Loma Nazarene University, the #4 team in the NAIA, which comes complete with an All-American pitcher and four other returning starters from a team that made their ninth straight national tournament appearance last year.

And that is just the first day of the season. They will escape Redding only after facing another perennial national contender in Biola University on the second day. And they get to face Biola again, two weeks later. Of course, the schedule isn’t filled with just the NAIA’s best schools from Southern California. NCU will also get to see some of the best Division III schools from the Northwest, including Willamette and Pacific, the second and third-place teams in the Northwest Conference in 2009. Willamette, in fact, finished the 2009 season ranked #25 in the nation for Division III.

Head Coach Tim Hood said, “We are playing some of the best teams in the country, as well as some of the top teams in the Northwest, and if we do well early on, it will really give us a jump start to the season.”

That is the mind set for the Beacons heading into the preseason schedule: win now. “We are focusing on being successful right away,” said Hood, “with the hopes that we find a reliable starting nine for our squad before conference play roles around.”

There is a special sense of optimism surrounding the 2010 team which returns nine starters and welcomes in nine freshmen, who will all have the chance to challenge the veterans for starting time right away. Coach Hood said, “Our big roster has lent itself to big improvements already in practice. There is always a sense of competition among the players for positions. Knowing that they need to perform in order to get playing time, everyone has stepped up.”

The Big League Dreams tournament opens the season on February 12th. The Beacons will play 21 preseason games over the next five weeks, all leading up to the start of the Cascade Collegiate Conference season on March 20th, a road double-header with Concordia.

NCU will play a home scrimmage on March 6th against Clackamas CC and will host their first official home games on March 7th against Walla Walla University.

Look for Part Two of the 2010 NCU Softball Season Preview on Thursday, February 11th.