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BAY CITY, Mich. - The Saginaw Valley State University softball team has been selected to finish in second place in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) for the upcoming season following voting conducted by the league's head coaches for the league's annual preseason poll.
The Cardinals received 147 votes to finish in the No. 2 spot, including a single first-place vote. The total was 19 points behind preseason favorite, Wayne State, which garnered 10 first place votes in that total. Ashland was picked third with 146 points and Grand Valley State collected three first-place nods while finishing fourth with 143 points.
2016 Saginaw Valley State Softball Preview
Coming off a 33-19 2015 season and a deep run through the GLIAC Softball Tournament, the SVSU softball team is looking to maintain the momentum as it begins the 2016 campaign. The Cardinals look to improve on consecutive 18-6 GLIAC records the past two seasons and it will rely heavily on some senior leadership to accomplish that.
Leading the charge for SVSU in the circle for the 2016 season will be a pair of seniors; Sarah Appold and Sarah Vrabel. Appold finished last year with a stellar 1.96 ERA and 14-8 overall record, notching 157 strikeouts in 164.2 innings of work. Vrabel was 12-8 overall with a 3.64 ERA, striking-out 73 batters in 113.1 innings. Appold was named to the All-GLIAC Second Team in 2015. Anchoring the lineup and defense for SVSU will be senior shortstop Shelby Weeks. Weeks hit .308 as a junior with seven home runs, 33 RBI, 15 doubles and a pair of triples. She added 18 stolen bases as well. Sophomore Evy Lobdell returns at first base as well after a stellar freshman campaign in which she hit .349 with nine doubles and 27 RBI.
Saginaw Valley opens its 2016 season in Florida once again, facing a tough slate of 14 games in Clermont before returning home on March 22 for a doubleheader against Aquinas.
