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1. Augustana Vikings
The Vikings were the last team standing in 2019, winning the second national championship in program history and the first since 1991. The Vikings set a single-season record for victories, passing the 60-win plateau. The squad got a stellar performance from then-sophomore pitcher Ashley Mickschl, who finished the year 32-6 with a 1.82 ERA and 196 strikeouts. The Vikings return top hitter Kara McDougall, who posted a .444 average and .456 on-base percentage a season ago, but have to replace a lot of power, having graduated a trio of players who combined for forty-seven home runs, exactly half of the team’s total during their championship run.
2. Texas A&M-Kingsville Javelinas
The team that finished as national runners-up to Augustana, the Javelinas wowed analysts and even casual softball fans with their 2019 run; the squad that finished the 2018 season three games above the .500 mark posted a 52-10 mark just one year later, with their only two losses of the entire postseason coming in the final two games of the national championship series. The Javelinas return leading hitter Anastasia Leibas and her .387 batting average; she finished second on the team with twelve home runs. The squad also brings back their dueling aces in the circle Breanna Smith and Saidi Castillo.
3. Young Harris Mountain Lions
After being ranked second in the Peach Belt Conference to start the 2019 season, the Mountain Lions finished the year third in the nation. Under rising star head coach Kayla Lucas, the Mountain Lions appeared in the Division II National Championship for the first time in program history, as well as the first Southeast Regional title. The Mountain Lions return five all-conference stars, including batting average leader Emily Harris and home run leader Haylie Shope, but lack experienced depth in the circle.
4. Southern Arkansas Muleriders
The Muleriders saw their 2019 season end prematurely, in the Regional round of the NCAA tournament, but return a huge portion of their core both on offense and in the pitching circle. The squad that had five double-digit home run hitters a season ago return four of them, including batting average leader Elisa Favela, and dueling pitching aces Sydney Wader and Victoria Taylor. Look for a rebound and a postseason run for the squad in Magnolia.
5. North Georgia Nighthawks
Kylee Smith returns to Dahlonega for her final collegiate season, after already having cemented her legacy as one of the all-time greats. The Nighthawks lost in the Southeast Regional to an upstart Young Harris team a season ago, after finishing the year with a .266 team batting average and a 1.30 cumulative ERA from the pitching staff led by Smith. The Nighthawks return batting leader Hobby Gregory, but have to fill some shoes on the offensive side after graduating a 5-member senior class after last season.
6. Tarleton State Texans
This will be the final season that the Texans compete in Division II, as they will join the D1 ranks next summer. The Texans’ lead the nation in wins over the last two years, but have not gone past the regional round of the NCAA tournament in either season. The squad returns all-Americans Georgia Capell and Jordan Withrow, who set the program’s career strikeouts record last season. All-conference first-teamer Destiny Crumpley also will help anchor the batting order.
7. UT-Tyler Patriots
The Patriots have been one of the top teams in Division III for some time, but now transition to the D2 level with the 2020 campaign. Even while still competing in Division III last season, the Patriots recorded five wins over D2 teams, including eventual national champion Augustana. The squad will have to replace both their batting leader and pitching ace from 2019, but bring back the hard-hitting bat of first-team All-American Ashley Perez, who hit .437 with fifty-one RBIs last season.
8. Saint Anselm Hawks
Rising senior pitcher Morgan Perry anchors the team’s pitching staff, while the squad returns a trio of players that finished the 2019 season with a batting average above .300. Perry is a two-time reigning all-conference selection, and was named the league’s Pitcher of the Year last season after posting a 26-6 record and 1.49 ERA. The Hawks played in the national championship series in 2018, and were beaten in the winner-take-all game of the Super Regionals last year. Expect another deep postseason run in 2020.
9. Rollins Tars
Occasionally overshadowed by some of their conference opponents, Rollins was picked as the conference favorite in the preseason conference coaches poll. The Tars return a pair of all-conference honorees, including two-way standout Ashley Worrell, who collected a .305 batting average and eight home runs, as well as a 21-6 record and a 1.38 ERA in the pitching circle as a freshman a year ago. The Sunshine State Conference is a quality league, and the Tars own the preseason number one ranking for the first time in five years; keep an eye on the squad in blue this year.
10. Mercy Mavericks
Possibly the team that could benefit most from the Long Island University merger and the departure of the LIU-Post program from the East Coast Conference, the Mavericks suffered through a down year in 2019 with a sub-.500 record, but are still just three years removed from a conference regular-season title. The Mavericks return batting leader Hannah Mueller, who hit .456 as a sophomore and led the team in eight offensive categories.In 2019, five pitchers saw at least forty innings of work in the circle, and three members of that staff return for 2020.
