Milligan tops the AAC pre-season coaches softball poll with 84 points and 5 first place votes. UVA-Wise is a close second with 81 points and 4 first place votes.

Here is a quick summary of the the top three teams as reported by the coaches:

Milligan
9 Returners, including :
Pitchers- Ryann Musick, Sidney Burns, Racheal Ingleby, Brooke Ingle
Infield- Melanie Strickler, Ellyn Sapp, Megan Heaton (C), Jessica Fix
Outfield- Jessica Russell, Alicia Engle, Heather Vaccaro

New Recruits:  
Infield- Morgan Holbrook, Abby Hughes, Emily Biggs (C), Abby Conner, McKenzie Eggers (C)
Outfield- Camille Olvey

Outlook:  We look to be a solid team this spring.  We have added some speed this year to improve our offense.  Pitching staff will all return and continue to improve.  With an increase in our roster we have added some depth to both our offense and defense.  Our team should be defensively sound, and competitive in the conference.


UVA-Wise
We graduated several seniors.  We have several young players that will be expected to step up immediately.  Lauren Snead returns for her senior season.  She had an outstanding junior year and we expect the same production.  We also return Maddi Ridenour to the lead-off spot and centerfield.   We have almost an entire new infield from last year.  We return Ashlee Washburn (short stop last year).  She will be starting at first base and the rest of the infield with the exception of the mound, all new.  We expect to have just as solid of a defense and should see more production out of our lineup. 
 
We have a few key newcomers we expect to be immediate impacts:
Kayla Cash-Tallwood High School C
Savannah Nuckols-Lakeland High School 3B
Ashleigh Roenker-Kempsville High School P
Miranda McCoy-Princess Anne High School SS

Montreat
Returners - LF Sr Kerby Barkdoll, 1st Sr Erin Cross, P JR Rachel Stowe, C SO Olivia Huffman

Newcomers - Junior College Transfers - Jamie Lokken OF, Stephanie Morrison C, Nicole Denney P, Kristine Valdez 2nd, Maggie Rogers 3rd, Priscilla Silva SS,  Freshmen - Ally Cochran

Outlook - We have a nice nucleus returning with senior leadership in 4 year starters Kerby Barkdoll and Erin Cross. We have hit the Junior College's hard this year to try and bring in some kids with college game experience and start to blend that with the incoming freshmen. Rachel Stowe, coming off a great sophomore year, should provide leadership and stability on the mound.

We have a lot of college game experience in the infield and outfield; it is now a question of developing a cohesiveness and trust amongst the players in game situations. Offense may be the X factor. We have increased the team speed 1 through 9 and added some power, but need to cut down on strikeouts. With a lack of depth we are going to have to be in great shape to be able to handle the demands of a very tough schedule.

School	Points
Milligan(5)	84
UVA-Wise(4)	81
Montreat	73
Union(1)	68
Reinhardt	57
Tennessee Wesleyan	48
Virginia Intermont	47
Covenant	35
Bluefield	29