ST. LOUIS – The 2018 MVC Softball season will be highly contested as two points separate the preseason favorite from the school picked third. Illinois State has been picked as this year's preseason favorite in Missouri Valley Conference softball as voted by the league's coaches. The Redbirds earned two first-place votes and 88 points. Southern Illinois was picked in second-place with three first-place votes and 87 points while UNI claimed third (three first-place votes and 86 points).
The University of Evansville was picked to finish in sixth place (56 points) while junior Morgan Florey was named to the Preseason All-Conference Team. The Purple Aces graduated 9 seniors from a season ago and will be under the experience of the lone senior, Brittany Hay and junior Morgan Florey.
"This is going to be an exciting season of MVC softball action," UE head coach Mat Mundell said. "As you can tell from the coaches voting, the league is going to be wide open. I understand being picked to finish sixth because we have a lot of question marks coming into the season our goal of course is to finish higher."
Hay was named 2017 MVC Newcomer of the Year while Florey earned 2017 MVC All-Conference Second-Team laurels and 2018 MVC Preseason All-MVC honors. Against league foes, Florey held a 1.81 ERA and struck out 95 batters, the best in the Conference.
Nine of the Missouri Valley Conference softball teams begin action the second weekend of February, with tournament play and non-conference games. Indiana State will start the season the following weekend. League competition will begin Friday, March 16 for two teams with the remainder of the Conference starting Saturday, March 17.
Evansville is ready to start its season in Lafayette, La. at the Louisiana Classic. The Aces face Samford, Louisiana, UIC, Iowa and Eastern Illinois in the tournament.
2018 Preseason Poll
Rank Team (1st-place votes) Points
1. Illinois State (2)............................. 88
2. Southern Illinois (3)....................... 87
3. Northern Iowa (3).......................... 86
4. Drake (2)...................................... 74
5. Missouri State............................... 57
6. Evansville...................................... 56
7. Loyola........................................... 35
8. Bradley......................................... 30
9. Valparaiso.....................................19
10. Indiana State...............................18
2018 Preseason All-Conference Team
Player, Team Pos. Yr. Hometown (Previous School)
Allison Spence, Illinois State 1B Jr. Beecher, Ill. (Marion Catholic)
Maddy Vermejan, Southern Illinois 2B Soph. Lemont, Ill. (Lemont)
Sydney Jones, Southern Illinois 3B Sr. Royal Palm Beaches, Fla. (Palm Beach Gardens)
Sammey Bunch, UNI SS Soph. Frankenstein, Mo. (Fatima)
Katie Kasubke, Loyola C Jr. O'Fallon, Mo. (St. Dominic)
Morgan Florey, Evansville UT/P Jr. Peoria, Ill. (Brimfield)
Shannon Felde, Illinois State DP/UT-NP Jr. Schaumburg, Ill. (Schaumburg)
Riley Hale, Illinois State OF Jr. West Burlington, Iowa (West Burlington Notre Dame)
Erika Velasquez Zimmer, Missouri State OF Sr. Coppell, Texas (Coppell)
Susie Baranski, Southern Illinois OF Soph. Chicago Heights, Ill. (Marian Catholic)
Brianna Jones, Southern Illinois P Jr. Manchester, Tenn. (Coffee County)
Jaclyn Spencer, UNI P Soph. Waterloo, Iowa (Waterloo West)
Sarah Finck, Illinois State P Sr. East Peoria, Ill. (East Peoria)
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