Following the best postseason run in program history, the McNeese State softball team will be working with new faces and moving familiar ones to new places in hopes of achieving the next goal – winning an NCAA Tournament regional for the first time.

The Cowgirls begin play Feb. 10.

Last year’s team went 40-21, won the Southland Conference Tournament and reached the regional championship round for the first time in program history before losing to host Northwestern at the Evanston (Ill.) Regional, where McNeese beat nationally ranked Notre Dame twice.

Among the stalwarts from that team who return are pitchers Ashley Vallejo, Whitney Tate and Shaelyn Sanders and hitters Chloe Gomez, Jil Poullard and Reese Reyna.

Poullard and Reyna are on the move, with Poullard moving from third base to center field and Reyna moving from second to shortstop.

“Jil is swinging the bat really well,” head coach James Landreneau said. “She has moved to center field so we can try to put our best total defense out there. We feel like it has been a good move for Jil. Reyna has moved to shortstop and has looked consistent and made plays. Transfer Mariana Torres (Texas A&M) has postseason experience, big-game experience. Defensively, she is special. (James Madison transfer catcher) Emily Phillips will hit in the top of the lineup for us and should add the extra-base hit and home run power we were needing.”

Landreneau said Sanders has been one of the standouts of preseason workouts.

“She got a lot of quality innings for us last year and has looked really impressive,” he said. “Lindsay Davis is a freshman that will help us out. Vallejo is coming off a conference pitcher of the year season and has looked outstanding. Tate is pitching well. She is stronger and has had an offseason to prepare.”

Landreneau said the team’s work ethic has been strong.

“The energy level has been fantastic,” he said. “It is always good to drive in to the field house and see people working hard, people putting in extra time and extra work on their own. That’s how you know your team is headed in the right direction. We don’t know what the season will bring, but we feel like our team will be prepared to play.”

College softball website d1softball.com ranked the program 42nd in the country, based on consistent success over the past decade. In the last 10 seasons, McNeese has won the SLC regular-season championship five times, the conference tournament five times and competed in the NCAA Tournament five times and the National Invitational Softball Championship once.

“It is humbling to know where our program has come and it is a testimony to all the great players we have had before us,” Landreneau said. “Ultimately you want to be able to sustain success and the players and coaching staff that we have now and before have done an excellent job to this point and we continue to grow.

“It is nice to be mentioned, but our focus shifts now to getting better and getting ready for a season and making sure we are ready to compete for championship play.”