Softball picked as conference favorite in OAC Coaches Poll
By Wes Mayberry
| 2023 OAC Coaches Poll (.pdf) |
ADA — The Ohio Northern softball team has been picked as the favorite to win the Ohio Athletic Conference for the 2023 season, as voted on by the league's head coaches.
The Polar Bears received 80 points and eight of 10 first-place votes coming off a 2022 campaign that saw them win the OAC regular-season and tournament championships and earn a second consecutive berth to the NCAA Tournament.
Muskingum was picked second in the poll with 72 points and one first-place vote, and Mount Union rounded out the top three with 64 points and one first-place vote.
Seventh-year head coach Jackie Price returns 10 letter winners, including four All-OAC honorees in seniors Sydney Motylinski (Ida, Mich.) and Allie Bican (Solon), junior Kaylie Griffin (Grafton/Elyria Catholic) and sophomore Ashley Lenser (Brookville), from the 2022 team that finished 24-11 overall and 16-2 in the OAC.
The Polar Bears open their 2023 season with a 10-game Spring Break trip in Florida from March 12-17.
2023 OAC Softball Coaches Poll
| Rank | School (1st Place Votes) |
Points |
| 1. | Ohio Northern (8) | 80 |
| 2. | Muskingum (1) | 72 |
| 3. | Mount Union (1) | 64 |
| 4. | Otterbein | 56 |
| 5. | Heidelberg | 42 |
| 6. | Baldwin Wallace | 38 |
| Marietta | 38 | |
| 8. | Wilmington | 29 |
| 9. | John Carroll | 21 |
| 10. | Capital | 10 |