The Southwestern Athletic Conference’s softball Preseason Poll and Preseason All-Conference selections were released from the home office in Birmingham on Wednesday.
Alabama State was honored with four selections to the SWAC All-Conference Preseason teams including a Player of the Year selection, a First-Team selection and two Second-Team nods.
The Lady Hornets were also predicted to finish in third place in the East Division by gaining 44 votes in the poll with two, first-place votes.
The polls are based on SWAC head coaches and sports information directors in an annual voting process where points are awarded based on top selections.
Aleesa Yanez, a junior from Ventura, Calif., was named the SWAC Preseason Player of the Year. The catcher hit .385 with three home runs, 35 RBI and five stolen bases and led the conference in runners picked off with four and threw out 15 base runners attempting to steal.
Sophomore Kendall Core earned an automatic bid to the All-Conference First Team in the third baseman position as finishing out the 2014 season with the selection. Returning players with an All-Conference selection in the previous season are rolled over to the following season. Core hit .354 with 10 doubles, six home runs and 32 RBI.
Each of the Lady Hornets’ Second-Team selections earned their first recognition by the conference. Junior Melissa Christmann was named to the All-SWAC Second Team as a pitcher while Valerie Centeno was named to the team as an outfielder.
Christmann led ASU in innings pitched (110.2), wins (eight), strikeouts (66) and complete games (four). She was second on the team in ERA (5.19). Centeno started in all 42 games last season and hit .316 with 30 runs scored, 18 RBI and eight stolen bases. She had a .953 fielding percentage and also recorded a 4.83 ERA on the mound with 14 strikeouts in 29 innings pitched.
Mississippi Valley State was projected to win the Eastern Division title – recording its fourth consecutive prediction win. The defending champion, Texas Southern, was selected to win the Western Division title.
MVSU’s conference performance in the 2014 season allowed it to receive six, first-place votes with a total of 55 points in the poll. Valley’s loss in last season’s SWAC Softball Tournament Championship game, against TSU, ended its SWAC title winning streak and chances of making its ninth NCAA appearance.
Like last season, Jackson State collected enough votes to land a second-place position in the East with five, first-place votes and a total of 54 points in the poll.
Alabama A&M and Alcorn State registered fourth and fifth positions in the division – both with no first-place votes, but holding 25 and 17 points, respectively.
In the West, Texas Southern picked up 92 percent of the first-place votes (12) with 64 total poll points. TSU also enters the season with an individual honor under its belt as Samantha Jimenez received the preseason Pitcher of the Year award.
Prairie View A&M tallied 38 total poll points, making them second in the West, while Southern was recognized with one first-place vote, 37 total points and a third-place finish. Grambling State (32 points) and Arkansas-Pine Bluff (24 points) placed fourth and fifth in the division with no first-place votes, respectively.
