App State Softball Announces 2024 Schedule
BOONE, N.C. – App State softball head coach Shelly Hoerner announced the 2024 softball schedule on Dec. 13. This season marks the 23rd year of App State softball in the High Country and will include several home games at Sywassink/Lloyd Family Stadium and nine matchups against teams that made the NCAA Tournament a year ago.
“I am excited to see what this team will do this spring,” Hoerner said. “We had a great fall and I look forward to carrying that momentum over into 2024. We have a lot of depth and competition on this year’s team, which I believe will be a key to our success.”
Of the 51 games on the 2024 schedule, all but six games will be played in North Carolina or a bordering state.
Coach Hoerner’s squad returns an experienced group of position players led by 2023 second team All-Sun Belt selection Kayt Houston who had another stellar year at the dish for the Mountaineers, slugging four home runs and driving in 23 runs while slashing an impressive .383 batting average to go along with a 1.009 OPS. Taylor Thorp returns for her sixth season in the Black & Gold and is coming off a career year in 2023 that saw her set career-bests in batting average (.303), hits (40), homers (4), RBI (27) and games played (49).
In the circle, a trio of successful pitchers return for another season in the High Country in Sejal Neas, Delani Buckner and Kaylie Northrop. Together, the three pitchers combined to pitch over 300 innings for the Mountaineers last season, while striking out 228 batters and posting 21 wins.
Additionally, a talented group of collegiate and prep talent join the 2024 team. Highlighting the newcomers is catcher Peyton Darnell who comes to the High Country after four years at USC Upstate. Darnell was the 2022 Big South Conference Player of the Year and started all but one game as a Spartan while slugging 32 home runs in her career.
The Mountaineers will open the 2024 season in Burlington, N.C., in a multiteam tournament hosted by Elon. While there, the Mountaineers will square off twice against MAC opponent Miami (OH), who made an appearance in the NCAA tournament last year.
App State will then head to two more weekend tournaments where they will play five games at the Winthrop tournament in Rock Hill, S.C. (Feb. 16-18) before traveling to Raleigh, N.C., for another five-game slate at the North Carolina State tournament (Feb. 23-25).
While at the NC State and Winthrop tournaments, the Mountaineers will play five schools for the first time in program history, including Monmouth, Iona and Binghamton.
The Mountaineers will then head to Johnson City, Tenn., to renew one of the longest rivalries in program history against ETSU in a doubleheader on Feb. 27. ETSU and App State have squared off previous times.
The Mountaineers will then participate in the ECU tournament to wrap up the team’s non-conference tournament schedule. App State will play two doubleheaders on March 1 and 2, before capping off play against the host school ECU on March 3.
Two straight midweek games on March 6 and March 13 wrap up non-conference play as the Mountaineers travel to Raleigh to face ACC opponent NC State and Greensboro to face UNCG, who won 37 games last season. The Spartans are the second team App State will face this season that made the NCAA tournament last season.
App State kicks off Sun Belt Conference play with a weekend series against the Georgia State Panthers in Atlanta, Ga., on March 15-17 before heading out to San Marcos, Texas, for a threegame 37 set with Texas State on March 22-24.
The Mountaineers will open their home schedule on March 28-30 when they face the defending Sun Belt champion Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns. The Mountaineers defeated the 23rd-ranked Ragin’ Cajuns 5-3 last March in the third game of a threegame set to record their first ranked win in program history.
April will see 13 total games, including two midweek doubleheaders at Sywassink/Lloyd Family Stadium against ETSU (April 9) and Western Carolina (April 23) and three Sun Belt weekend series, highlighted by a trip to Conway, S.C., to face the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers on April 12-14, before James Madison comes to town for the first time ever on April 19-21.
Capping off the 2024 road schedule, App State travels to Huntington, W.V., for the first time ever on April 26-28. The Mountaineers then close the regular season on May 2-4 with a home series against Georgia Southern.
The 2024 Sun Belt Tournament will be held in San Marcos, Texas, from May 8-11.