Softball picked second in preseason coaches' poll

2/23/2024 5:30:00 PM

TRAFFORD, Pa.--The Westminster College softball team was picked to finish second in this year's Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Softball Preseason Coaches' Poll, which was released Friday afternoon with the league's annual Players to Watch List.

The preseason coaches' poll was voted on by the PAC's 11 head coaches.

Westminster, led by 28th-year head coach Jan Reddinger, tallied two first-place votes and 89 total points. Westminster finished the 2023 season 29-13 and were runners-up at the PAC Championship Tournament. It was the program's fifth time serving as host of the league's championship tournament as the No. 1 seed.

Reddinger is the program's all-time wins leader with 623 during her 27 seasons in New Wilmington. She has a combined 679 career victories between her time at Westminster and LaRoche (56).

Waynesburg garnered six first-place votes and 95 total points to secure the first-place spot. Trailing Westminster was Allegheny College in third with two first-place votes and 83 total points. Geneva was fourth with one first-place vote and 73 total points. Saint Vincent College was fifth (63), Grove City College was sixth (55), Washington & Jefferson College was seventh (37), Chatham University was eighth (36), Bethany College was ninth (33), Thiel College was 10th (30) and Franciscan University was eleventh (11).

Three Westminster players were mentioned in the Players to Watch List: graduate pitcher Madison Brown (Lisbon, Ohio, East Liverpool), fifth-year first baseman Mackenzie Latess (New Castle, Pa., Laurel) and senior pitcher Elizabeth Malczak (Grove City, Pa., Grove City).

Brown, a four-time First Team All-PAC selection, went 13-8 (22 starts) in the circle last season, posting a 2.14 earned-run average (ERA) in 127.1 innings pitched. She finished the season with 13 complete games, seven solo shutouts and 104 strikeouts. Brown owns a 54-28 career record (92 appearances, 86 starts) with a 2.01 ERA, 55 complete games, 21 shutouts and 412 strikeouts. She fired a perfect game in a 1-0 victory over Thiel College on April 21. Brown has

A three-time First Team All-PAC selection, Latess was one of 141 student-athletes named to the 2023 Tucci/National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Division III Player of the Year Watchlist last April. Her eight home runs, seven sacrifice flies and 60 RBIs led the league, while her slugging percentage (.764) and OPS (1.204) rank second. Latess' 55 hits and .433 batting average ranked fifth and sixth in the PAC, respectively. She is the program's all-time leader in RBIs (152) and doubles (46) and her 20 career home runs are tied for the most in program history (Jennifer Emery, 2007-10). Latess' 60 RBIs last season ranked fourth in Division III.

Malczak, a two-time Second Team All-PAC selection, posted a 14-4 record and 3.04 ERA in 18 starts (21) last season and finished with 11 complete games, two shutouts and 43 strikeouts in 106 innings pitched. Through 50 career starts (59 appearances) Malczak is 40-9 with a 2.39 ERA, 32 complete games and seven shutouts.

All three were a part of the All-Tournament Team at last spring's championship.

This year's PAC Tournament will look different than past years, as the three-team play-in series has been eliminated. Now, the top six teams will all advance to the double-elimination weekend tournament, which will begin Thursday, May 2 and run through Saturday, May 4, with the PAC's top seed to host the tournament. The winner of this year's championship tournament title will secure the league's automatic qualifying bid to the Division III Softball Championship, with teams and regional site selections announced on Monday, May 13.

Regional round play is scheduled for Friday-Sunday, May 16-18 and the Super Regionals will be played Friday-Saturday, May 24-25. The eight teams advancing from the Super Regionals will participate in the Division III Championship finals, slated for May 30 through June 5 at Jason Bell Park at Taylor Field in Marshall, Texas.

Westminster opens its season at THE Spring Games in Florida. The Titans will play Muskingum University Sunday, March 3 at 4 p.m.

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