Feb. 8, 2007

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford University softball team will begin play in its 2007 season Friday at Florida State's Early Bird Invitational. The Bulldogs will square off against the Radford Highlanders at 10 a.m., before facing the 25th-ranked Florida State Seminoles at 3 p.m.

"We're really excited to get the season underway," said Samford head coach Beanie Ketcham. "Our team is pumped up about getting out on the field again and we're going to be playing against some good competition in this tournament. This weekend will be a good test for us and it will be good to see where we are as a team."

Samford heads into the 2007 campaign with a roster comprised of seven returning starters and 11 returning letterwinners. The Bulldogs also boast the return of their top two pitchers from last season in senior Susanna Meyer and sophomore Stephanie Royall.

Royall led the squad with 13 victories a year ago and was named to the Ohio Valley Conference's All-Newcomer team.

Shelley Stanley, the Bulldogs' senior outfielder from Decatur, Ala., earned Second-Team All-OVC honors last season and is Samford's all-time home run leader with 25 career round-trippers. During the 2006 campaign, Stanley finished with a single-season record 10 home runs and led the team with a .274 batting average.

The Bulldogs completed the 2006 season with a 20-38 overall record and a 10-16 mark against conference opponents.

Samford finished in seventh place in the OVC standings a year ago and came up just short of qualifying for the conference's six-team postseason tournament. The Bulldogs were picked to finish tied for seventh place in the 2007 OVC preseason rankings in a vote taken by the league's 10 head coaches.

Radford and No. 25 Florida State will also be competing in their first game action of the season Friday.

The Highlanders enter the 2007 campaign looking to continue their positive momentum from a 40-22 record last year. Radford is located in Radford, Va., and has an enrollment of 9,220 students. The Highlanders completed last season with a 9-3 record in the Big South Conference for a second-place finish.

"As a coaching staff, we're going to use this weekend as an evaluation period," Ketcham said. "It will be a good chance for us to get some feedback and hopefully we'll be on our way to meet some of our team goals. This season, we just want to have some good at-bats and hopefully we'll make some explosive contact."

Florida State, the 25th-ranked team in the nation, compiled a 44-30 overall record a year ago and ended with a 10-10 mark in Atlantic Coast Conference play.

The Seminoles' head coach Dr. JoAnne Graf is the all-time winningest coach in NCAA softball history and currently owns an impressive 1,355-424-6 career record. This season will be Graf's 28th year as the head coach at Florida State.

Following Samford's pair of contests against Radford and No. 25 Florida State on Friday, the Bulldogs will continue play in the 2007 FSU Early Bird Tournament against Florida A&M at 10 a.m., Saturday.

Live stats will be available for all of Samford's games this weekend and Friday's 3 p.m., contest against Florida State will be webstreamed live at the following link: Video Webstreaming - Samford at #25 Florida State.