COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- The San Diego State softball team has been picked to finish fifth in the Mountain West in a preseason poll voted on by the league's nine head coaches, the conference announced Wednesday. The Aztecs have won a league-record seven MW regular-season titles.
SDSU picked up 31 points in the preseason poll, just behind UNLV (35) and ahead of Nevada (19). Defending league champion Boise State was picked to win the league with 64 points, including eight first-place votes. Fresno State garnered the other first-place vote and had 57 points total, while San José State's 50 points were good enough for third. The bottom three of the preseason poll were Colorado State (26) in seventh, Utah State (21) in eighth and New Mexico (11) in ninth.
The Aztecs are coming off a 20-31 season in 2018, their first losing campaign since 2005. SDSU was 11-13 in MW play for sixth place, winning six of its final eight games, including two of the final three series.
San Diego State begins its 2019 season on the road, playing at Grand Canyon Univ.'s Kickoff Tournament in Phoenix from Friday, Feb. 8-Sunday, Feb. 10. On the docket for the Aztecs are Syracuse (9:30 a.m. MT) and Charlotte (noon MT) on Friday, Charlotte (11:30 a.m. MT) and Grand Canyon (4:30 p.m. MT) on Saturday, and No. 4/4 Oklahoma on Sunday (9:30 a.m. MT).
2019 MW Softball Preseason Poll
(First-place votes in parenthesis)
1. Boise State (8) - 64
2. Fresno State (1) - 57
3. San José State - 50
4. UNLV - 35
5. San Diego State - 31
6. Nevada - 29
7. Colorado State - 26
8. Utah State - 21
9. New Mexico - 11
Softball Picked Fifth in Mountain West Preseason Poll
