Moon Township, Pa. – According to a poll of league head coaches, the RMU softball team has been picked to finish seventh in the Horizon League in 2021.
Tabbed as the preseason favorite was UIC, which earned nine first-place votes and compiled 99 points. Rounding out the top five is Youngstown State (79), Northern Kentucky (73) and Oakland and Detroit Mercy, which each finished with 64 points and have been picked to tie for fourth. The Golden Grizzlies grabbed one first-place vote.
IUPUI (49) was picked to finish sixth, and following the Colonials, who claimed 44 points, in the poll are Cleveland State (32), Purdue Fort Wayne (26) and Green Bay (21).
RMU officially joined the Horizon League July 1, 2020, in 10 of its varsity sports. The Colonials have faced every opponent during program history in the league except for Wright State, which does not occupy a spot on RMU's 2021 regular-season schedule. The Colonials are slated to open the 2021 campaign Friday, March 12, with a doubleheader against Detroit Mercy at the North Athletic Complex.
The Colonials are led by
Jexx Varner, who is in his third season as head coach at RMU in 2021. He welcomes back
Natalie Higgins and
Madison Riggle, who each started RMU's 19 games in 2020 before the season was canceled due to the global pandemic.
Higgins led the Colonials last season in batting average (.349), hits (22), doubles (6), home runs (3) and RBI (12), while Riggle hit .308 (16-for-52) while matching Higgins for the team lead in home runs and RBI. RMU should also be bolstered by the return of junior
Erika Bell, who hit .308 (12-for-39) in 16 games in 2020, scoring six runs.
From the circle, junior
Dana Vatakis returns for RMU in 2021 after posting seven complete games in 10 starts in 2020. She held opponents to a .214 batting average and recorded an ERA of 2.54 in 69 innings, striking out 46 while issuing just 18 free passes.
Higgins enters the 2021 campaign with a career slash line of .317/.498/.350 and has started 152 of her 154 career contests. She is tied for fourth all-time in program history for career doubles with 35, just six shy of the school record of 41 established by Lauren Dickinson (1999-02), and also ranks sixth for career RBI (86).
2021 #HLSB Preseason Poll
| Team (First-Place Votes) |
Points |
| 1. UIC (9) |
99 |
| 2. Youngstown State |
79 |
| 3. Northern Kentucky |
74 |
| 4. Oakland (1) |
63 |
| Detroit Mercy |
63 |
| 6. IUPUI |
49 |
| 7. Robert Morris |
44 |
| 8. Cleveland State |
32 |
| 9. Purdue Fort Wayne |
26 |
| 10. Green Bay |
21 |
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