The Season Starts In Hawaii for Bears Softball

The 2020 season is here for Northern Colorado softball, the team starts out the season on the road at the Paradise Classic held by University of Hawaii. UNC will play a series of games against the host team Hawaii along with games against Iowa State and Memphis Thursday through Saturday.

2019 Recap
UNC qualified for the Big Sky Tournament hosted in Sacramento, California as the sixth seed.

In the conference tournament, UNC upset No. 2 Idaho State, No. 3 Montana and No. 4 Sac State to advance to the championship game. Weber State defeated UNC in the championship game. It was the second straight season the Bears finished second in the conference tournament.

Second Time Around
Head coach Ben Garcia enters his second season as the Bears head coach after closing the 2019 season on a strong note. In his first season as head coach, Garcia had a 14-39 record.

UNC returns six starters and is adding 13 newcomers to the roster.

At the Plate
Katie Simonsgaard will return to the outfield for the Bears after playing in 39 games with 21 starts. Simonsgaard had a .211/281/286 slash line last season.

Emma Brockmann will return after a First Team All-Conference season in 2019 behind the plate. Brockmann recorded a .980 field percentage and catching seven base runners stealing last season.

Juniors Mady Young and Natalie Joyner will return to the infield for the Bears. Young had a total of 24 RBIs and Joyner had 14 RBIs last season. Young has started every game of her career, with a total of 109 games over the past two seasons.

Dani Young returns for UNC in the infield, with 49 games played and 47 starts. Young had a .252/.363/.354 slash line and hit three home runs last season.

In the Circle
Northern Colorado pitching staff will be transitioning after losing its ace from last season, Valarie Vidal. Maggie Thurston returns to the circle for the Bears after pitching 73 innings, with two complete games and two wins. Taylor Puga will also help the Bears staff, with 29.2 innings pitched and had a 1-1 record in 2019.

Following the Bears
Northern Colorado opens the 2020 season against host Hawaii on Thursday, Feb. 6^th at 9 pm MST. Friday, Feb. 7^th UNC will play Iowa State at 3 pm. Later that day, the Bears will play Memphis at 5:30 pm.

Follow the games live on Twitter with @BearsSoftball.

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Emma Brockmann

Natalie Joyner

Taylor Puga

Katie Simonsgaard

Maggie Thurston

Dani Young

Mady Young

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