Jan. 20, 2012
SAN DIEGO -
College Sports Madness Preview on No. 23 SDSU
The San Diego State softball team is ranked 23rd in the nation in the College Sports Madness preseason poll, which was released last night (Jan. 19). Additionally, the Aztecs are picked to win the Mountain West regular season title.
The website has been counting down the top-44 teams with in-depth previews and predicting the NCAA tournament bracket. Each preview includes key NPF draft-eligible players and recruit rankings.
In the preview, College Sports Madness highlights the five players who were selected to the preseason all-MW team by the website earlier this month, including preseason pitcher of the year senior Bailey Micetich (Woodland, Calif.). Sophomore Hayley Miles (Antelope, Calif.) joined Micetich on the preseason first team, while senior Justeen Maeva (San Diego/Mira Mesa HS), sophomore Lorena Klopp (San Diego/Steele Canyon HS) and sophomore Katie Mathis (Grass Valley, Calif.) were all second-team picks.
The website predicts yet another NCAA tournament appearance for SDSU, which has made it a school-record four consecutive years and five of the past six seasons. San Diego State finished the 2011 season with a 34-21 record before falling to eventual national champion Arizona State in the Tempe Regional final. The Aztecs set six program records in 2011, including slugging percentage (.440), runs (266), doubles (74), home runs (42), RBIs (236) and total bases (630).
SDSU begins its season on the road for the fifth straight year when it travels to Tempe, Ariz., to compete in Arizona State's Kajikawa Classic from Feb. 9-12. Five of San Diego State's six games at the Classic will be against 2011 NCAA tournament teams, including Texas Tech (Feb. 9), Portland State (Feb. 10), Tennessee (Feb. 11), Georgia Tech (Feb. 11) and Oregon (Feb. 12). Former MW opponent and new Pac-12 member Utah (Feb. 10) is the other game for the Aztecs in Tempe.