ROCHESTER, Mich. ???C The Oakland University softball team was picked to finish fifth in The Summit League Preseason Softball Poll, announced by the league office on Friday. The poll was selected by the league???s nine head coaches. The Golden Grizzlies fell in the tournament championship game a season ago, 5-1, to Southern Utah, in Cedar Springs, Utah.

???We are excited to get our season underway and believe that we have a solid group of returning players,??? said third-year head coach Glenn MacDonald. ???The addition of North Dakota State, South Dakota State, and IPFW, is going to make it that much more difficult to be in the top four, but the coaching staff feels very strongly that we can be one of those teams.

???We set a goal very season to win the regular season and tournament championship, and this year is no different.???

Western Illinois, last year???s regular season champion, is favored to finish atop the league standings again as the Westerwinds edged out Southern Utah. North Dakota State, who enters its first year of competition in the league, was picked third, Centenary fourth, Oakland fifth, IUPUI sixth, South Dakota State (another first-year member) seventh, UMKC eighth and IPFW ninth.

Oakland hopes to make a return trip to the league championship after falling in the title game last year. Coach MacDonald returns six starters from last year???s squad that went 21-36, led by first-team all-conference pitcher Jessica Granger, who posted a league-best 2.34 ERA in 251.0 innings with 166 strikeouts. Second-team honorees Julie Owen (.314, 44 H, 15 RBI) and Katie Dreyer (.208, .303 OBP) also return for the Golden Grizzlies.

The top four teams based on the regular-season standings will compete for The Summit League Championship at Kathryn Berg Field in Cedar City, Utah, May 10-11. The winner of the double-elimination tournament will take home the league???s automatic bid into the NCAA Softball Tournament.

2008 Softball Preseason Poll
    Team (1st)  Points
1.  Western Illinois (5)    61
2.  Southern Utah (3)   57
3.  North Dakota State  49
4.  Centenary   42
5.  Oakland 37
6.  IUPUI   28
7.  South Dakota State  25
8.  UMKC    14
9.  IPFW    11

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