HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Starting the 2012 season with lofty expectations as the nation's preseason No. 2 and almost a unanimous pick to win the Gulf South Conference, the University of Alabama in Huntsville softball team will begin the new campaign with a pair of contests on Sunday. In a change of schedule, the Chargers will take on Miles at 11 a.m. before turning around to play Stillman at 1 p.m.
 
Both games will be played at the Shea Brothers Softball Complex in Irondale, Ala.
 
Cause for the high hopes, Head Coach Les Stuedeman returns much of last year's squad that compiled an impressive 48-6-1 record en route to capturing the NCAA South Region championship including All-American Mary Kelley and three-time All-GSC selection Kelli Long. Both were important pieces to an offense that ranked 11th nationally in batting average and fifth in scoring with more than seven runs per game.
 
Also returning are Whitney Toler and Whitney Gilbert who started the majority of the contests for the Blue and White last season as UAH pitching ranked fourth in the nation with an ERA of 1.29.
 
Also strong defensively, the Chargers recorded the 28th-best fielding percentage in the country at .968.
 
In total, the Chargers return 10 starters – including the pair of starting pitchers.
 
The Chargers will be looking to continue what is an impressive tradition of opening-day success as the program has never dropped its first game of the season in the 16 years of UAH softball. On the last three opening days, UAH has won by a combined score of 25-1.
 
UAH has dominated the in-state foes that it will face on Sunday, compiling a combined 9-0 mark against the two programs. The Chargers have a 2-0 record against Stillman, defeating the Tigers 17-1 in the last meeting which came in the 2008 season. Winning all seven games against Miles, the Chargers swept aside Sunday's second opponent last season in a doubleheader, winning 11-0 and 10-0.
 
Long led the squad in the two games against Miles, going 5-for-6 at the plate while scoring five runs, while Kelley drove in a series-best six runs. Gilbert tossed four innings of one-hit ball, striking out seven in picking up a win.
 
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