Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Salukis picked sixth in preseason MVC poll
01/27/2016 | 12:00:00 | Softball
ST. LOUIS - The Southern Illinois softball team was picked sixth in the 2016 preseason conference softball poll, the Missouri Valley Conference announced on Wednesday. League head coaches voted on the poll, and Wichita State was named the preseason favorite.
SIU returns four of its top five hitters from last year's team that finished third in the conference at 15-11. Merri Anne Patterson was a second-team All-Conference and All-Defensive team selection a year ago and will be a junior in 2016. Shaye Harre will also be a junior and has a .309 career batting average in 100 starts for SIU. Kelsey Gonzalez will be a senior after hitting .306 over her past two seasons.
In the circle, the Salukis lost Katie Bertelsen to graduation. Bertelsen threw nearly 200 of SIU's 317 innings last season. A trio of underclassmen (Savanna Dover, Brianna Jones and Nicole Doyle) will pitch for the Salukis in 2016. Dover, a sophomore, ranked third in the MVC last season in opponent batting average, limiting conference hitters to a .222 batting average against her. She allowed only three extra-base hits in 27.2 innings against conference opponents. Doyle and Jones are true freshmen.
Southern Illinois has finished among the top three in the MVC in 13 of 16 seasons under head coach Kerri Blaylock.
Gonzalez, Harre and Jessa Thomas are the 2016 captains. The 2016 team opens the season in 16 days at the Lion Classic in Hammond, La. SIU faces UT Martin, Nicholls State, Mississippi Valley State, Southeastern Louisiana and Buffalo in the first tournament of the season.
| Preseason MVC Poll (First-place votes) - Total Points | |
| 1 | Wichita State (3) - 84 |
| 2 | Missouri State (4) - 76 |
| 3 | Northern Iowa (1) - 74 |
| 4 | Drake - 72 |
| 5 | Illinois State - 70 |
| t-6 | Indiana State (1) - 55 |
| t-6 | Southern Illinois - 55 |
| 8 | Bradley - 32 |
| 9 | Loyola - 21 |
| 10 | Evansville - 11 |
