NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - The George Washington Colonials were selected to win the 2021 Atlantic 10 Softball Championship in a poll conducted of the league's 10 head coaches, announced Friday, ahead of the 2021 season. Conference play will begin on April 2.
GW received 93 points in the poll with four first-place votes, closely followed by Fordham (92) in the second spot with five first-place votes. Massachusetts (77), who received one first-place tally, was ranked third, followed by Dayton (70) in fourth and Saint Louis (59) in fifth place. Saint Joseph's (46) and George Mason (41) were ranked sixth and seventh, respectively, while Rhode Island, St. Bonaventure and La Salle rounded out the poll.
Entering its third season under coach Shane Winkler, the Colonials welcome back six student-athletes who started all 24 contests last spring: Jenna Cone, Jessica Linquist, Faith Weber, Sidney Bloomfield, Hannah Eslick and Alessandra Ponce, all of whom were a part of GW's run to a share of the A-10 title in 2019. This season, GW also adds a pair of battle-tested graduate transfers in Olivia Vinyard (Yale) and Amber Lotz (Houston Baptist), plus seven first-years. The program's first A-10 Player of the Year and All-American in 2019, Cone was recently tabbed to USA Softball's Collegiate Player of the Year Watch List for the third time, and currently ranks third nationally among active student-athletes in career RBIs and fourth in career home runs.
A perennial powerhouse in the A-10, Fordham returns all 16 players from last year and adds three newcomers to the roster. Madie Aughinbaugh, the 2019 Pitcher of the Year, is among the top five in the Rams' recordbook for wins (53), complete games (58), strikeouts (378) and shutouts (12), and tallied six complete games in last year's shortened season. Also back is Rachel Hubertus, who hit .333 with nine home runs over 40 starts in 2019 before an ACL injury. The Rams, under 2019 A-10 Coach of the Year, Melissa Inouye, look to add their ninth A-10 Championship in the last 10 years.
The Minutewomen return 13 from the 2020 roster, including seven players that started nine or more of the 11 games in the shortened season. Caroline Videtto led the team in batting average a year ago and added a .515 slugging percentage with nine RBI. She also tied the UMass single-game record with seven RBI on her way to being named Atlantic 10 Player of the Week. Alyssa Lyon and Kristina Day, who each tallied three hits as UMass scored a season-high 14 runs in a 14-5 at USF, are also back to lead the team. The 2018 Coach of the Year Kristi Stefanoni, also welcomes six newcomers.
The 2021 Atlantic 10 softball season gets underway on Friday, February 12. A four-team 2021 Atlantic 10 Championship will be played on the campus of the highest seed, May 13-15, with the winner advancing to the NCAA tournament. Select regular-season matches and A-10 Championship matches will be streamed live on ESPN+.
| Preseason Poll - Total Points (First Place Votes) |
|
| 1. George Washington |
93 (4) |
| 2. Fordham |
92 (5) |
| 3. Massachusetts |
77 (1) |
| 4. Dayton |
70 |
| 5. Saint Louis |
59 |
| 6. Saint Joseph's |
46 |
| 7. George Mason |
41 |
| 8. Rhode Island |
36 |
| 9. St. Bonaventure |
23 |
| 10. La Salle |
13 |