Feb. 3, 2011
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The San Diego State softball team has been picked to finish second in the 2011 Mountain West Conference regular season, the league announced Thursday. The preseason poll was voted on by the league's six head coaches.
The Aztecs, who went 34-16 last season and finished second in the MWC at 11-4, picked up 22 points, including two first-place votes. Brigham Young, which has won the league championship the past two years, is predicted to win the title again with 24 points, including the other four first-place votes. The last time a team other than SDSU or BYU won the regular season championship was 2004 (Colorado State). UNLV was picked third with 15 points, followed by Colorado State (13), Utah (11) and New Mexico (5).
San Diego State, which is receiving votes in both the ESPN.com/USA Softball and USA Today/NFCA preseason polls, lost only two senior starters from last year's squad that advanced to the NCAA tournament for the third consecutive season, a first in program history. The Aztecs boast four former all-conference selections on the roster, including redshirt senior Lindsey Marquez (Tustin, Calif.), senior Samantha Beasley (San Diego/Steele Canyon HS), and juniors Justeen Maeva (San Diego/Mira Mesa HS) and Bailey Micetich (Woodland, Calif.).
SDSU returns a stellar pitching staff, led by Beasley, a 2010 third-team NFCA All-American, who finished last year ranked seventh in the nation with a 1.20 ERA, while recording a school-record 354 strikeouts. Despite her numbers, the right-hander was left off the 2011 USA Softball Player of the Year Watch List, which included 20 other pitchers.
2011 MWC Softball Preseason Poll
(First-place votes in parenthesis)
1. Brigham Young (4) - 24
2. San Diego State (2) - 22
3. UNLV - 15
4. Colorado State - 13
5. Utah - 11
6. New Mexico - 5