INDIANAPOLIS – From the perspective of the league’s managers, Ohio Dominican was picked on top of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Softball Preseason Coaches Poll presented by Under Armour as released on Wednesday.
The coaches also believe the spring of 2020 will be a wide-open race towards the top as five different member institutions received at least one first-place vote.
The Panthers collected a total of 136 points and earned nine first-place votes to lead all schools. Additionally, Trevecca Nazarene, Tiffin, Cedarville and Kentucky Wesleyan, each received one first-place vote in this year’s balloting.
Under head coach Marcella Vanlandingham and her staff, 2019 was a successful championship run for ODU in the Great Midwest regular season. The Panthers brought home hardware and a new trophy to add to the shelves with a 21-5 record in the league standings.
Vanlandingham was recognized by her peers for top coaching honors and return four standouts from last year’s all-conference team including Sydney Long, Landry Slider, Taylor Farmer, Cameron Barber and Kristen Bales.
With contributions from the above names and plenty of others, the Panthers were second as a team in the conference stats in runs, doubles, triples, home runs and RBI.
The voting held true to the 2019 standings as Trevecca Nazarene was polled runner-up to start the spring. It was a banner year for now senior shortstop MaKray Odom as she turned in an All-American season, both on and off the field.
Odom was last year’s Great Midwest Player of the Year and is an absolute on-base machine with a single-season conference record average of .565. Her .590 on-base percentage also set a new standard and led all players from the league.
The Trojans had a total of 121 points from the coaches voting.
Tiffin’s first attempt in the conference tournament was a valiant one as the Dragons posted two wins in the championship bracket as the No. 3 seed. Holding true to the seeding, the Dragons are polled third this spring. TU gave eventual tournament champ Hillsdale all it could handle in a 7-6 final and went deep into extras with Cedarville bidding to get to the championship series.
Head coach Kyle Gross pulled off what many thought was simply not possible as a No. 8 seed, guiding the Chargers of Hillsdale to back-to-back conference championship runs. Last year, at a combination of Akron and North Canton, Hillsdale reeled off four straight wins to celebrate another trip to the NCAA Championship Midwest Regional.
Hillsdale may be overlooked going into 2020 once again as the coaches still view the Chargers as top tier with 108 points, but didn't receive a first-place vote.
Hillsdale edged out Cedarville by just one point in the voting as the Yellow Jackets settled in fifth. Cedarville was in the conference championship series against Hillsdale to close out 2019 as the team relied on the golden arm of Great Midwest Pitcher of the Year Morgan Arbogast and a host of clutch hitters.
Sitting in sixth, Kentucky Wesleyan has been postseason bound for six years running. The Panthers are still a threat at the top of the conference standings and will need to replace some big names from a large senior class that graduated, including All-American outfielder Meredith Daunhauer and pitchers Maci Brown/Autumn Grady.
Both Findlay and Malone clinched playoff bids in the conference tournament. The Oilers are perceived as a slight favorite over the Pioneers to round out the top eight in the preseason poll. Both UF, MU and Hillsdale were jammed in last year’s regular season standings at 13-11.
Ursuline and Walsh are in the top 10 trying to claw in the playoffs, along with Lake Erie, Alderson Broaddus and Ohio Valley, as they completed this year’s preseason coaches poll, respectively.
Findlay will host this year’s Great Midwest Softball Championship at the Oilers’ Marathon Diamonds. Weather permitting, the regular season for multiple teams will start on Friday, January 31.
Some Great Midwest teams will enjoy different destinations for Spring Break to warmer weather in Florida. Southern Indiana will also host a large crossover event featuring Great Lakes Valley Conference teams in action against Great Midwest schools later in February.
Great Midwest Softball Preseason Coaches Poll presented by Under Armour
| School |
Points |
| 1. Ohio Dominican (9 first-place votes) |
136 |
| 2. Trevecca Nazarene (1 first-place vote) |
121 |
| 3. Tiffin (1 first-place vote) |
115 |
| 4. Hillsdale |
108 |
| 5. Cedarville (1 first-place vote) |
107 |
| 6. Kentucky Wesleyan (1 first-place vote) |
94 |
| 7. Findlay |
81 |
| 8. Malone |
79 |
| 9. Ursuline |
49 |
| 10. Walsh |
42 |
| 11. Lake Erie |
36 |
| 12. Alderson Broaddus |
34 |
| 13. Ohio Valley |
12 |