New York, NY---The Sage Colleges' softball team has been voted third in the race for the 2014 Skyline Conference Championship with the release of the league's pre-season poll as voted by the league's eight head coaches. Three-time defending champion Farmingdale State has been selected to capture the 2014 Skyline softball crown in voting conducted by the league's eight head coaches.
FSC earned five first-place votes and 47 overall points, while defending regular season champion NYU-Poly finished second in the voting with 40 points and one first-place vote.
The Rams welcome back reigning Skyline Rookie of the Year Meagan Anderson (.399 batting average) and senior infielder Hillary Genova, who compiled a .406 on-base percentage in 2013. On the mound, junior hurlers Taylor Tedeschi and Taylor Webb combined for 23 victories and 32 complete games a year ago.
Under the direction of 13th-year head coach Jimmy Barrett, NYU-Poly seeks its first Skyline Championship since 2010 and returns senior All-Conference selections Briana Feist and Megan Moran.
Having amassed 51 victories over the past two seasons, Sage placed third in the voting with 37 overall points and one first-place vote. Leading the Gators' attack is junior Kristen Beikirch (Brockport, NY/Brockport), who batted a league-best .444 with a program-record 64 hits en route to garnering Skyline Player of the Year honors. Head Coach Jamie Brown returns a lineup that features several players that have finished the 2012 and 2013 campaigns as participants in the Skyline Tournament as well as finishing as the ECAC Metro Runner-up the past two years.
Sage will open the 2014 season when they travel to Florida where they will face ten NCAA Division III opponents from March 9-14. The Gators return north to open Skyline Conference play on March 22 with a double-header at St. Joseph's (LI). Sage's home opener is slated for March 27 when the SUNY-IT Wildcats visit Robison Field for a non-conference doubleheader. The Gators will be home on six dates this year and will hold a Support the Troops promotion in conjunction with their doubleheader on March 29 as well as Senior Day on April 12 when they face Farmingdale State College in a league match-up.
The four-team Skyline Softball Championship will be held April 25-27 and hosted by the 2014 regular-season champion. The Skyline Conference champion will garner the league's automatic qualification to the 2014 NCAA Division III Tournament.
2014 Skyline Preseason Coaches' Poll
1. Farmingdale State - 47 points [5]
2. NYU-Poly - 40 points [1]
3. Sage - 37 points [1]
4. St. Joseph's-L.I. - 35 points [1]
5. Mount Saint Mary - 22 points
6. Old Westbury - 21 points
7. Mount Saint Vincent - 14 points
8. Purchase - 7 points
First-place votes in parentheses
