BURNSVILLE — The Southwest Minnesota State University softball team was picked to finish 10th in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Preseason Coaches’ Poll recently announced.

Augustana, the 2019 Division II National Champion, was picked first with 223 points, just above Winona State (213) who had been slated first in four of the last six seasons.

Coming in third was Minnesota State at 186, while Minnesota Duluth and St. Cloud State (180) tied for fourth.

Concordia-St. Paul (152) comes in at sixth, followed by Minot State (129) at seventh, Sioux Falls at eighth (126), Northern State (105) at ninth, and SMSU rounds out the top 10 with 99 points.

Upper Iowa comes in 11th with 86 points, followed by UMary with 85. Bemidji State (51) comes in 13th, MSU Moorhead (41) ranks 14th, while Minnesota Crookston (36) comes in 15th and Wayne State (28) finishes 16th.

Senior pitcher Megan Cull and junior outfielder, and returning all-conference honoree, Bailey Johnson earned “NSIC Preseason Player to Watch” in the 2020 season.

Cull, appeared in 19 games with 14 starts, and recorded a 5-10 record a season ago. Cull amassed a 4.82 ERA in 2019, a career-low, with 61 strikeouts in 90 innings, and a team-second best 78 runs allowed. She enters her senior season with 13 career victories.

Johnson has started every game the past two seasons, and hit four home runs, four triples, and 14 doubles in 2019. Johnson led the team last season in batting average (.408), slugging pct. (.669), on base pct. (.480), runs scored (37), hits (53), doubles (14), and triples (4).

SMSU finished last season 19-26 overall with a 13-17 record in the NSIC. SMSU closed the 2019 season at the NSIC Tournament in Rochester.

SMSU opens the season Feb. 28-March 1 for a season-opening tournament in Topeka, Kan. The Mustangs will play six games against Pittsburg State (Kan.), Central Missouri, Nebraska-Kearney, Fort Hays State (Kan.), Washburn (Kan.), and Emporia State (Kan.).

SMSU will follow-up its games in Topeka with its annual spring break trip to Florida where they will play 10 games from March 8-12.

The Mustangs open conference play at Sioux Falls on March 24.

— Content courtesy

of SMSU Athletic

Communications