Southern Utah University opens its 2010 softball season Thursday at Arizona State's Kajikawa Classic. The Thunderbirds open the tournament against University of Ohio on Thursday, then play Texas Tech on Friday. Saturday and Sunday the T-Birds play a pair of double-headers, meeting San Diego State and Cal State Fullerton on Saturday before taking on Oregon State and No. 5 ASU on Sunday.
    The Thunderbirds will see a familiar face in the opener on Thursday, as former head coach Jodi Hermanek left the SUU program following the 2008 season to take over at Ohio.
    All six teams the Thunderbirds will face this weekend will be opening their seasons.

    The Coach: Julie Strand (Colorado State-Pueblo, 2002) is 24-31 heading into her second season as head coach at SUU. Prior to taking the helm of the Thunderbird program, Strand served four seasons as the number-one assistant. During her time as an assistant, Coach Strand had a major role in helping SUU to back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances in 2006 and 2007. She also helped guide the Thunderbirds to Summit League and Mid-Continent Conference tournament titles those two seasons as well as a two more regular-season conference championships.
    Coach Strand has helped lead the 'Birds to Summit League tournament berths in all five of her seasons on the bench, and helped oversee a squad which has virtually rewritten the Southern Utah offensive record books in the past four years.
    A 2002 graduate of Colorado State University-Pueblo, Ms. Strand spent the 2003-04 season as an assistant coach at Denton High School in Denton, Texas, where her squad was second in the nation in academics with a 3.227 GPA. Following the 2004 season she accepted a head coaching position at Cedar Hill HS in Cedar Hill, Texas, but cut short her time there to join the SUU staff. Prior to taking the position at DHS Coach Strand spent one season as an assistant coach at CSUP.
    Coach Strand is assisted by Jamie Brown (Buffalo State, 1999), Melanie Nelson (SUU, 2010) and student assistant Caroline Fernandez.

    Coaching Staff: Other than Coach Strand, the staff has an entirely new look this year as Jamie Brown and Melanie Nelson have joined the staff in full-time roles while Caroline Fernandez, the team's starting catcher the past three seasons, will help out as a student assistant.
    Brown spent the last three years as head coach at Chico State where she guided the Wildcats to a 59-98 overall record, including a 25-28 mark in 2008. Prior to her time at Chico State, Brown was the head coach at East Stroudsburg State for four seasons, where he led the 2006 ESU team to the NCAA tournament and recorded the first regional win in the university's history. She began her collegiate coaching career in 1999 at Westminster College in Penn­sylvania and in 2000 she moved to the Division I ranks as an assistant at Wagner, where she served as hitting coach and recruiting coordinator, and oversaw compliance, fundraising and budgeting. Brown's first head-coaching job came at Skidmore College in New York in 2001 where she spent one season.
    Nelson was an outfielder on the SUU softball team from 1999 to 2004 when she helped the Thunderbirds to a pair of regular-season Summit League titles. She has also worked the last seven years as an assistant on the high school level, at Cedar City's Canyon View High, where she helped lead the Falcons to several region and one state championships.
    Fernandez, who was the starting catcher on SUU's last NCAA tournament team in 2007, capped her playing career with an all-tournament team selection at last year's Summit League Championships.

    T-Bird Outlook: A healthy mixture of seasoned upper-classmen and fresh faces characterize the 2010 edition of Thunderbird softball.  For the first time in several years SUU can boast a corps of returning players with plenty of D-I experience. Seven starters return from last year's team that went 14-11 and finished fourth in the Summit League regular season standings before finishing third in the league's post-season tournament.
    “We're going to finally have that solid class of juniors and seniors that have two or more years of experience,” says second-year head coach Julie Strand.
     Most of those returning players are juniors, as just two seniors dot the Thunderbird roster: pitcher Kristina Brooks and outfielder Norian James.
    A starter since her freshman season, Brooks has made an assault on the SUU record books and should continue to rewrite them this season.  In 2009, as a junior, she became the school's all-time leader in strikeouts (593), wins (55) and innings pitched (735.2). Brooks also set the SUU single-season strikeout record with 289, and tallied 22 victories, the second-highest single-season mark in SUU history last season.
      “What a leader, for three straight seasons,” Strand says of Brooks. “It's great to have a person on the mound that has been there and done that. The teams we'll see this season, she has faced them all. I see it as another stellar year for Kristina.”
    As for James, Strand says she is expecting a breakout season in 2010. Always a speedster on the bases and in center field, Strand describes the Clinton, Utah product as having “vastly improved in the off-season as a batter from both sides of the plate. I really think this is going to be Nor's bust-out year.”
    The freshman class of 2008 included several who stepped forward to make immediate impact with the Thunderbirds. Now juniors, they provide the core of returning Thunderbird experience.
    Darleen Fernandez enjoyed a breakout 2009 season, leading the Summit League in home runs (13) and RBI (52), and finishing tied for most doubles (14).  More importantly, she emerged as the team's “lead-by-example” figure, earning 1st Team All-Conference honors.
     “Darleen is going to continue to be that person,” Strand says. “From her freshman to sophomore year she gained that confidence. One area she has shown a lot of off-season improvement is in hitting that outside pitch.”
    Aly Daniels built upon the success of her freshman season, where she quickly laid claim to the starting shortstop spot, being named honorable mention All-Summit League in '08.  As a sophomore in '09 she was named 1st team All-Conference after leading the team in batting average (.354), slugging (.622), and triples (six) while ranking among the top five in the Summit League in multiple batting categories.
    “The kid's an athlete,” Strand points out. “We continue to try to find things in practice to continue to challenge her because she is able to do so many things. Having she and Darleen on that left side makes us so solid defensively, as well.”
    Other returning juniors include infielders Shannon Lum, Brittany Henderson, and Stephanie DeJesus, pitcher Katie “Bubba” Kearns, and outfielder Jenavieve Purcell. 
    The returning juniors are joined by three junior transfers: pitcher Kara Bendt (UNLV), outfielder Danielle Swopes (Salt Lake CC) and first baseman Makinna Meeks, who sat out last year after transferring to SUU from Dakota Wesleyan University.
    The 2010 Thunderbird roster includes no sophomores. The balance of the team is comprised of fresh talent. For the first time in years Coach Strand and staff have the luxury of bringing most of the youngsters along in time. 
    Nonetheless there are several freshmen whose skills will thrust them forward to assume immediate roles, especially at the catcher, left field, and offensive spots. Freshman Nicole Huntsman (1B, DP, Utility) is one such player.
    “That kid has a great bat—a great eye for the ball. I'm predicting that by the time she leaves here she will be another Marci Pratt for us—she's just that type of player,” Strand says, referring to the former Thunderbird catcher who was a two-time Summit League Player of the Year.
    Other freshmen poised to contribute immediately include outfielders Ariel Morbeck and Whitney Griffith and catcher Katie Olinger.

    The Schedule: As mentioned above, the Thunderbirds' schedule starts with a reunion of sorts.  SUU opens the 2010 campaign on February 11th at the Arizona State Kajikawa Classic. First up is Ohio, a team coached by former Thunderbird skipper Jodi Hermanek. When Hermanek departed for Oxford, Ohio after the 2008 season, Strand assumed the helm at SUU after spending four seasons as Hermanek's No. 1 assistant.
    Southern Utah's non-conference schedule is typically tough, one which includes teams from the Pac-10 (Arizona State, California, Oregon State), Mountain West (BYU, San Diego State, UNLV, Utah), Big 12 (Texas Tech), WAC (New Mexico State, Nevada) and Big Sky (Portland State, Weber State).
    The Thunderbirds are counting on the pre-season experience to give them a great deal of seasoning before The Summit League's season begins March 12 against South Dakota State at Kathryn Berg Field.