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PORTLAND, Ore. – As announced earlier Tuesday by the league office, Corban's softball team is picked to finish fifth in the Cascade Collegiate Conference behind defending conference champions and No. 15-ranked The College of Idaho according to the preseason coaches' poll.
"The preseason rankings pretty much reflect how the teams were ranked at the end of the season last year," said third-year head coach
Nathan Ohta. "We return a very solid group, and have nine very talented newcomers, so we are anticipating a good year, and are looking to improve on where we ended last season."
According to the 2010 conference coaches' poll, The College of Idaho is the unanimous choice to repeat as champions followed by Southern Oregon (39 points), Concordia (36 points), Oregon Tech (30 points), Corban (20 points), Northwest Christian (14 points), and Eastern Oregon (8 points).
The top three teams in the conference’s final regular season standings will meet in the postseason tournament (May 7th & 8th) to determine the league’s automatic berth in the NAIA World Series.
The regular season champion will host the CCC tournament., while the NAIA World Series is slated for May 20-26 in Decatur, Alabama.
Ohta, who is entering his fourth season as part of the Warriors' coaching staff, returns 10 players from last season's team that registered a win-loss record of 19-23 that included a conference mark of 7-13.
Leading the way this season for the Warriors is a quartet of players that includes senior
Rebecca Franke (Pendleton, Ore.), senior
Rachel Kazmierski (Eugene, Ore.), junior
Jessie Jones (Gladstone, Ore.), and junior
Jennifer Kollaer (Albany, Ore.). Both Franke and Jones are coming off All-Cascade Collegiate Conference Team selections, while Kazmierski and Kollaer combined to hit .336 last season thanks to 73 hits in 217 at-bats for the duo.
After the loss of three-time all-conference pitcher and the program's career strikeout leader Erin Sailors due to graduation, Ohta hit the recruiting pavement hard and brought in nine new faces led by junior pitcher
Makenzie Marchbanks (Sweet Home, Ore.) from Walla Walla Community College. Marchbanks will be aided by fellow freshman recruits
Nicole Sikes (San Diego, Calif.),
Tamara Feb (Oregon City, Ore.), and
Stephanie Nippert (Rocklin, Calif.).
The Warriors will open the 2010 campaign this Saturday, February 6th, against NCAA Division III member Lewis & Clark with a double header beginning at noon in Portland.
Following this weekend's season-opening twin bill, Corban will travel to Redding, California for the two-day, six-game Simpson Softball Tournament against host Simpson, Menlo, William Jessup, defending NAIA champions and preseason No. 1-ranked California Baptist, No. 3-ranked Point Loma Nazarene, and Biola.
The Warriors will open their home schedule on Friday, March 5th, with an afternoon double header against the Wolves of Walla Walla University beginning at 1:00 p.m. on Warrior Field.