Tracy Bunge has Greta Van Susteren whipped. Bunge is Kansas University’s softball coach, and she has a heckuva lot more new faces than the TV lawyer.

In fact, with eight seniors gone from the 2002 team, Bunge will have as many new faces on her roster as old ones.

Kara Pierce struggled with injuires last season, but she still tied Serena Settlemier for the team lead in victories with 12..

On paper, it’s a rebuilding season, but Bunge doesn’t look at it that way.

“We hope it’s a reloading season,” she said.

Bunge has only two starters back from the senior-laden team that finished 33-25 overall and 7-11 in the rugged Big 12 Conference, and neither is assured of a starting role next spring.

A bumper crop of freshmen, including the Gatorade Players of the Year in Kansas (Jessica Moppin of Olathe South) and Oklahoma (Destiny Frankenstein of Broken Arrow), fuel Bunge’s optimism.

Moppin, Frankenstein and Nettie Fierros of Avondale, Ariz., will most likely fill the openings at third base, shortstop and second base, although not necessarily in that order.

“I recruited three shortstops,” Bunge said. “We’re going to give them all a shot and fall ball will really decide. All of them are athletic and have good arm strength.”

On the morning line, it would probably be Moppin at third, Frankenstein at short and Fierros at second. Moppin, who hit .417 last spring at Olathe South, has said she would like to play third she has some experience there while Frankenstein has been primarily a shortstop.

Junior Sandy Smith, who played in 40 games last year but hit only .243, remains a possibility at second base.

At first base, Lindsey Weinstein returns. A left-handed slap-hitter from Tarzana, Calif., Weinstein batted .268 as a freshman. She could alternate with Serena Settlemier who sparkled both at the plate and on the mound as a freshman last season.

Used mostly as the designated player when she wasn’t pitching, Settlemier hit .297 the third highest average on the team with a .440 slugging percentage. On the mound, Settlemier was the Jayhawks’ best pitcher late in the season. During the Big 12 portion of the schedule, Settlemier, a right-hander from Kelso, Wash., was 3-3 with an 0.86 earned run average.

Bunge has all three of her pitchers back, including Kara Pierce, the Big 12 freshman of the year in 2001 who struggled with knee and wrist injuries in 2002. Pierce and Settlemier tied for the team lead in victories with a dozen apiece. Settlemier wound up 12-7 with a 1.88 ERA; Pierce 12-9 with a 2.50 ERA.

“Pierce was up and down last spring,” Bunge said. “We’re hoping she’ll bounce back.”

Also back is Kirsten Milhoan, the only senior on the roster. Milhoan was 6-7 with a 2.37 ERA and was effective in spots.

All three outfield spots are up from grabs with junior Melanie Wallach, a utility player during her first two seasons, likely to step into one of them.

“Wallach will fill one of those openings,” Bunge said. “The guess would be either in left or in center.”

Heather Stanley, a freshman from Highlands, Texas, is another probable outfield starter. “We’re going to need her to step up and play right away,” Bunge said.

Behind the plate, junior Dani May, a Lawrence High product, returns. May is solid defensively and can run, but she hit only .208 with no extra-base hits in 72 at-bats last spring. Thus May will face a challenge from freshman Melaney Torres who hails from the Dallas suburb of Grand Prairie.

“Melaney is a solid thrower and offensively she probably has more speed than most catchers,” Bunge said.

Normally, the fall exhibition season is a time to hone skills and concentrate on fundamentals. Not this autumn. Bunge has to find out who can play, and where, in her seventh season at the helm.

“It’s very hard to characterize this team right now,” she said. “I don’t think we’ll be a team of speed. We’re not replacing the speed we had. No one is blazing fast. But we’ll have a lineup with a little bit more pop. Defensively, we may be more gifted, but they’ll be freshmen.”