Oklahoma City University Athletics

OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma City University will be the team to beat according to a poll of the Sooner Athletic Conference softball coaches released Monday.

Oklahoma City received the maximum nine first-place votes for 81 points. Coaches were not permitted to rank their own program. Lubbock Christian (Texas) took the only other first-place vote and finished second with 68 points.

The Stars were 53-9 last season, and Lubbock Christian was 54-7. Lubbock Christian won the SAC regular-season title, while OCU captured the tournament crown.

OCU brings a veteran ballclub into the season, which starts Feb. 16 against Northwestern Oklahoma State in Alva, Okla. The Stars have won eight NAIA championships and 13 league titles.

NAIA and SAC player of the year Amanda Howard returns for OCU. Howard, a senior outfielder from Strathmore, Alberta, Canada, hit .436 with 26 home runs, 58 RBIs and 13 stolen bases last year.

“We will have more seniors in this class than we have ever had,” OCU coach Phil McSpadden said. “We think we can fill in the right pieces and come up with the right combination with the improvement of last year’s sophomores and juniors.”

St. Gregory’s is expected to finish third, earning 62 points in the poll. Rogers State was next with 60, Oklahoma Christian at 44, Northwestern Oklahoma State at 39, Southern Nazarene at 38, Oklahoma Baptist at 25, USAO at 24 and Mid-America Christian at 10.

The Sooner Athletic Conference sent three teams – OCU, Lubbock Christian and St. Gregory’s – to the NAIA Tournament last season and all three emerged from pool play with perfect records.