A new era will begin for the CSU Bakersfield softball team when the Roadrunners will open up the 2012 season, the first under new head coach Crissy Buck, at the UNLV Sportco Kick-off Classic on Friday.

With a roster of 11 returners and eight newcomers, Buck is looking to build on the program's past success as CSUB moves forward as a Division I team now eligible for NCAA postseason play.

"We are taking this season one day at a time," Buck said. "We are looking at it as the cliché of one game at a time, one pitch at a time. That is us because in any time of growth for a program, that is how you have to start."

The Roadrunners went 17-35 last season, including a 5-15 mark in the Pacific Coast Softball Conference, which put CSUB in fifth place in the Coastal Division.

This season, Buck is confident in the CSUB squad anchored by a core of veterans, but also boosting three transfers and five freshmen. She said the lineup is strong from top to bottom, giving her the ability to move players around and change them in and out.

"I am so proud of the kids that I have in my first year. You couldn't ask for a better group to start something with," Buck said. "I think all of them have a yearning to learn that exceeded my expectations. With that our goal is just to get better every single day and be known as a team that is going to fight for everything they get and I think the kids have bought into that concept. They like that role."

CSUB will officially begin the season on Friday morning when it faces Kent State at 9 a.m. Right after that contest, the Roadrunners will then take on Oklahoma, who is ranked No. 5 in the NCAA Division I preseason softball poll, at 11:15 a.m. CSUB will return to the diamond on Saturday to face Weber State at 9 a.m. and then conclude the tournament with two games on Sunday, one against Minnesota at 11:15 a.m. and then against the host Rebels at 3:45 p.m.

~www.GoRunners.com~