APSU Sports Information
Clarksville, TN – Austin Peay State University’s (APSU) softball team will open its fall schedule with a 10-inning contest versus Southern Illinois, 1:00pm, Sunday, October 7th, 2018 at Charlotte West Stadium in Carbondale, IL, in what will be the team’s first action under new head coach Kassie Stanfill.
The Governors are coming off a school-record 39-19 season in 2018, which included a second-place finish in the Ohio Valley Conference regular-season standings, while Southern Illinois finished this past spring with a 31-22 record.
“It’s exciting to final play against another opponent this fall,” Stanfill said. “You can only practice so long before you get the itch to play against someone else other than your teammates.”
Austin Peay returns 18 players from last years squad, so the Govs will be an experienced team, but coach Stanfill and her staff will be using this first fall contest to see where all the pieces may fit together and how they compete against someone other than themselves.
“We as a staff just want to see what we have and see how the girls compete and work together,” Stanfill said. “We’re going to have athletes in different positions and we want to see how they respond in that situation.
“We’re really just going to use this first game as a way to evaluate everyone and see where we’re at as we prepare for the spring.”
Sunday’s contest at SIU will be the first of three dates the Governors will be playing this fall, with a road trip to Evansville scheduled for October 12th and a home date versus Shawnee State coming on October 19th.
The softball team will also hold its Governors World Series at home on October 23rd-25th.
“I’m looking forward to this opening matchup versus a quality opponent in Southern Illinois,” Stanfill said. “For our girls to be able to go out and compete against an opponent who has really made a name for themselves will be a challenge and I think it will be two quality teams having a good day of softball.”
