Written by Armani Johnson
BVU Sports Information Student Intern
 
STORM LAKE, Iowa (February 15, 2022) - We are just days away from another season of balls and strikes. The Beavers of Buena Vista University are hungry and focused heading into its upcoming 2022 season.

Inside the conference, the Beavers are set to take on four regionally-ranked teams in Wartburg, Luther, Central, and Coe who are receiving votes in national rankings for Division III.

Mandie Nocita. who enters her eighth season as head coach for the Beavers, has added Ed Duegan as her new full-time assistant coach and they are excited about what lies ahead for the team.

"We're pretty excited for this upcoming season, we have some valuable and integrative players coming back." quoted Nocita when asked about the upcoming season.

BVU brings a lot of experience and leadership to the table this year. The Beavers return Ashtyn Miller and Peyton Gross, two returning pitchers for the team. Miller who had 121 strikeouts last season also received all-conference honors as a utility player.

"When she's not pitching, she's on the field somewhere else, she hits for herself, she does some pretty great things for our team," said Nocita.

Miller also received a Third Team National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-Region honor alongside Carlee Guyett, who received a NFCA selection, making the Second Team.

"(Guyett) she's going to be a good factor for us as far as a leader offensively," Nocita adds.

Miller and Guyett are just two of 10 letter winners from last year's team that are set to return. Savannah Pohlmann returns for her fifth season where she played majority of the innings in the outfield and has been a starter for the majority of her BVU career. Rylee Cain was the stellar freshman on the team last year where she lit up conference play with a .329 batting average among those games. Among other returners are Jamie Wendt, Nattie Murillo, Alyssa Barhart, and Nikki Griggs, who all saw pivotal time during the 2021 season.

The Beavers bring in 10 newcomers with strong profiles to the team and that depth also excites Nocita going forward.

Buena Vista begins its play against St. Catherine University on February 19^th, to begin the annual Bethany Lutheran Kwik Trip Invitational. The team is scheduled to play four games over two days.
 
The team will head to Missouri the following week for four games before heading further south to Tucson, Ariz., beginning March 8 where it will play eight games during the week.

Webster University will visit Storm Lake for the Beavers' home opening doubleheader on Saturday, March 26 before A-R-C play kicks-off at home versus the University of Dubuque on Saturday, April 2.

BVU, which finished 18-23 overall last season (8-16 A-R-C), tallied 23 total points in this year's A-R-C Preseason Coaches Poll and was picked to finish seventh.  Coe College and Wartburg College each chalked up 57 points to finished tied for first in the poll.  The Kohawks landed four first-place votes with the Knights following with three.
 
Additional Links
2022 Preseason Coaches Poll
2022 BVU Schedule & Results
2022 BVU Roster