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AUGUSTA, Ga. – The Peach Belt Conference released the 2018 PBC Softball Preseason Coaches Poll on Thursday and the Jaguars are ranked 11th overall.
North Georgia has been voted as the preseason favorites to capture their fifth straight PBC Championship in a poll of the league's head coaches released on Thursday. Flagler was second in the voting with 85 points, two ahead of Young Harris in third. Georgia College was fourth with Columbus State fifth and Lander sixth. Francis Marion, UNC Pembroke, USC Aiken, Georgia Southwestern and Augusta rounded out the voting.
The Jaguars return 12 players and have eight new student-athletes for the 2018 spring season that begins in February. Four of AU's top-five hitters from last season return in senior Lindsey Stokes, sophomore's Lydia Hausman and Courtney Browne, and junior Kelsea Hunter. On the mound, the Jags also return their top-two pitchers with sophomore's Morgan Hunter and Browne back to start for Augusta.
Augusta begins the year at Catawba for a non-conference doubleheader at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 3 in Catawba, N.C. Augusta's home opener is Thursday, Feb. 8 when Erskine College visits Jaguar Field for a non-conference double feature at 1:00 p.m. Admission is free to all home softball games at Jaguar Field! All dates are doubleheaders excluding tournament play.
The preseason poll is listed below. Teams were given 10 points for a first-place vote, nine for second-place and so on. Coaches were not permitted to rank their own teams.
Read the full PBC press release by clicking here
View the 2018 Augusta Softball schedule by clicking here
2018 PBC Softball Preseason Coaches Poll
|
Rank |
Team |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
4th |
5th |
6th |
7th |
8th |
9th |
10th |
Total |
|
1. |
North Georgia |
9 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
99 |
|
2. |
Flagler |
1 |
4 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
85 |
|
3. |
Young Harris |
1 |
2 |
6 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
83 |
|
4. |
Georgia College |
0 |
4 |
1 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
79 |
|
5. |
Columbus State |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
57 |
|
6. |
Lander |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
47 |
|
7. |
Francis Marion |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
46 |
|
8. |
UNC Pembroke |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
43 |
|
9. |
USC Aiken |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
4 |
2 |
0 |
36 |
|
10. |
Georgia Southwestern |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
5 |
4 |
17 |
|
11. |
Augusta |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
7 |
13 |
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