BURNSVILLE, Minn. – The University of Sioux Falls Softball Team, which opens the season on Feb. 1 against Metro State-Denver, has been picked to finish eighth in the NSIC Preseason Coaches Poll.
USF Softball, which closed the 2019 season with a strong performance at the NSIC Championships, received 126 points in the poll, which was just three out of seventh and behind Minot State at 129.
Augustana was the favorite in the 2020 NSIC Preseason Softball Coaches' Poll. Winona State was second with 213 points and three first place votes. The Warriors took home NSIC Regular Season and NSIC Tournament titles last year after going 53-9 and a perfect 30-0 in NSIC play. Minnesota State was third in the poll with 186 points while UMD and St. Cloud State were tied for fourth with 180 points. The preseason coaches' poll is based off each coach ranking each team from 15 to 1 with the top team receiving 15 points, second 14, third 13, etc.
Directed by second-year head coach
Shannon Pivovar, USF comes off a 24-30 record and took 10
th in the NSIC at 13-17. In the NSIC Tourney, USF defeated seventh seed Minot State, 9-7, in 10 innings in game one before battling top seed Winona State and falling 3-2 on a walk off hit in the bottom of the seventh inning before losing to St. Cloud State, 6-5, in the 10
th inning. USF was 5-6 at home, 11-14 on the road and 8-10 on neutral fields in 2019.
USF will return 13 letter winners and be led by four seniors, which will include NSIC Players to Watch in senior pitcher/infielder
Sydney Nieveen and senior centerfielder
Frankie Mickelson. Along with the returners, USF has four freshmen expected to make an impact.
Nieveen, who ranks in USF's all-time top-10 in eight hitting categories, is a standout first base and pitching performer. A year ago she hit .309 with four HR, 26 RBIs, .441 slugging mark, .398 OBP, four stolen bases and .985 fielding percentage. On the mound Nieveen made nine starts with 16 appearances as she was 5-7 with a 3.59 ERA.
Mickelson is USF's leading power hitter coming back after slugging five HRs with 25 RBIs and a .436 slugging mark. She had six steals and .288 OBP while fielding at .988 with 26 putouts and five assists.
A year ago, USF, which had 233 wins in the past decade and its sixth straight season with at least 24 wins, ranked fourth in the NSIC with 53 HRS and was fourth in slugging at .441 while ranking seventh in runs (254), RBI (228) and sixth in doubles (76). The Cougars were ninth in the NSIC with a 4.06 ERA and tied for sixth with 242 strikeouts while finishing second in the NSIC in fielding at .972.
The 2020 NSIC Softball season gets underway on January 31 while the 30-game NSIC schedule is set to begin on Tuesday, March 24. The 2020 NSIC Softball Tournament will consist of the top ten teams in the NSIC final standings competing in a double elimination format on April 30 to May 2 at the RYFSA Complex in Rochester, Minnesota.
