TOWSON, Md. – The Towson University softball team opens the 2020 season at the USC Upstate Classic Friday, Feb. 7-9 in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

The Tigers will begin the tournament on Friday, Feb. 8 taking on Bucknell at 11 a.m. and Saint Francis at 5 p.m. On Saturday, the Tigers will face USC-Upstate at 3 p.m., then Marshall at 5 p.m. On Sunday, Towson will play Saint Francis again at 9 a.m. All games will be played at Cyrill Softball Statdium.

Last Time Out
Towson finished the season during the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Championships after facing doubling elimination. After falling to Elon 6-1, the Tigers faced Drexel in an evening contest. Towson took an early 1-0 lead but the Dragons scored two runs in the top of the seventh to win the game.

During the tournament it was announced that Madison Wilson and Julia Smith-Harrington was named to the Second-Team and Sara Johnson was named to the All-Rookie Team.

On the academic side, Smith-Harrington also earned CoSIDA Academic All-District ® for having a 3.92 GPA. She also led the team and the CAA in doubles (18).

Scouting Bucknell
The Bison were picked to finish third in preseason All-Patriot ballot. Senior Raeanne Geffert and sophomore Allyse Volpe was named to the 12-player Preseason All-Patriot League Team. Gefferet concluded her 2019 season on an All-Patriot League list for the third time in her career.

Last season Bucknell went 14-3 in the Patriot League and secures a No. 2 seed in the Patriot League tournament.

Scouting Saint Francis
The Red Flash have won three consecutive NEC titles and NCAA appearances. They were picked to finish second in the Northeast Conference Preseason Coaches Poll.

Saint Francis set numerous team records last season, including hits (480) and doubles (97). The offense scored 348 runs, batted .287 and hit 66 home runs.

They return MeKenzie Saban who set the single-season school record with 80 hits.

Scouting USC-Upstate
The Spartans were picked No. 2 in the Big South preseason poll and senior catcher Alyssa Oakes earned Preseason Player of the Year Accolades.

Oakes was selected as Preseason Player of the Year after she earned the 2019 Player of the Year honors a season ago. She finished the regular-season as the conference's triple crown leader with a .402 batting average, 22 home runs and 73 RBI's.

Scouting Marshall
The Herd placed three players on the Conference USA Preseason All-Conference team and was picked tied for third in the coaches' poll.

Kaille Williamson, a senior enter the season with the most experience in the circle for Marshall. In 2019 Williamson had career-bests with a 3.16 ERA, 12 wins (12-4 record), 35 appearances, 21 starts, 12 complete games, five shutouts, two saves, 139.2 innings pitched and 90 strikeouts.

Aly Harrell was named to the team after leading the nation in walks (68) and in combined free passes with 85 as she added 17 hit-by-pitches.

Tigers in the Community
The Towson University athletics department deems community service as one of its highest priorities to give back to the Greater Baltimore area.

• For the 7th consecutive year, the department exceeded 10,000 hours of community service to the Greater Baltimore region, finishing with 11,162 hours of community service in the 2018-19 academic season.
• Towson ranked #1 nationally for community service and won the 2018 National Championship for Community Service through the Helper Helper NCAA Team Works Competition.
• Towson had a 97% participation rate, attended 118 community service opportunities and volunteered with 19 organizations.
• Towson won the 2018 Volunteer of the Year Award from Susan G. Komen of Maryland.