FRISCO, Texas – The three-time defending Southland Conference tournament champions McNeese Cowgirls were picked to repeat as Champions, and led the way with eight players named to the SLC Softball Preseason All-Conference teams, announced by the league on Friday.
 
The Cowgirls are predicted to win their third straight Southland Conference regular season Softball Championship, after receiving 128 points in the pre-season poll. Coaches and SIDs from the Southland’s nine-member institutions cast their ballots, with Head Coach James Landreneau’s squad receiving the maximum possible 16 first-place votes (teams are not allowed to vote for themselves). The Cowgirls also placed a league-high eight student-athletes on the preseason All-Conference teams, split evenly four apiece between the first and second teams. 

Southeastern Louisiana were unanimously picked to finish second, whilst also receiving the two final first-place votes from McNeese. The Lions won 47 games last season - a school record - and Bailey Krolczyk became the first Lion ever to garner both SLC Play and Hitter of the Year accolades. Krolczyk ranked second in the SLC last year with a .384 batting average for the season and led the conference in hits (63), runs batted in (48), slugging percentage (.677), doubles (16), total bases (111) and homeruns (10). Krolczyk highlighted five selections on the preseason All-Conference teams for Head Coach Rick Fremin's squad.

Seven of the Southland's nine member institutions are represented on the preseason All-Conference teams, with each of those schools having at least two selections across the first and second teams.

The Colonels of Nicholls State, led by reigning SLC Coach of the Year Justin Lewis, were chosen third in the poll and placed two student-athletes - Erin Krause and Alexa Poche' - on the first team. Fourth place went to the Lamar Cardinals, who themselves had Cam Niedenthal and Brooke Davis tabbed for second team accolades. Primrose Aholelei of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, the 2023 SLC Pitcher and Newcomer of the Year, was a first team selection, with teammate Sydney Hoyt garnering second team recognition. Aholelei led the conference last season with 18 wins and 159 strikeouts in 183.2 innings pitched, which was 47 more innings than second in the league. Her 1.83 earned run average ranked second in the conference and her .228 opponents’ batting average was fourth in the SLC. The Islanders were chose to finish fifth in the Southland in 2024.

The Demons of Northwestern State garnered three second team recognitions, and were projected to finish sixth overall in the SLC this year. The SLC Freshman of the Year - HCU's AB Garcia - rounded out the first team alongside teammate Haylie Savage, as the Huskies were tabbed to be 7th in the 2024 standings. Garcia led the conference in batting average in 2023 at .423 and finished second in total hits behind Krolczyk wth 60. Her on-base percentage of .446 ranked second in the SLC and her 36 runs scored ranked third. UIW and Texas A&M-Commerce rounded out the preseason poll.

The 2024 season begins on Thursday, February 8th, with three SLC teams in action on that day, and another six playing their opening fixtures a day later. The 2024 Southland Conference Softball Tournament will take place in Hammond, Louisiana, May 7th to 10th.

The Southland Conference preseason poll is voted on by each school’s head coach and soccer sports information director. Each voter ranks their predicted order of regular-season finish, not including their own team. First-place votes are worth eight points, second-place votes are worth seven, and so on to one point for eighth place.

Returning players from the 2023 All-Conference teams are automatically named to this year’s Preseason All-Conference teams at their same positions. Vacant positions are nominated and voted upon by the conference’s head coaches. Voting for one’s own player is not permitted.

2024 Southland Conference Softball Preseason Poll

Pl	School	1st	Pts
1	McNeese	16	128
2	Southeastern	2	114
3	Nicholls		97
4	Lamar		78
5	A&M-Corpus Christi		72
6	Northwestern State		63
7	HCU		49
8	UIW		30
9	Texas A&M-Commerce		17

2024 Southland Conference Softball Preseason All-Conference Teams

First Team

Pos.	Name	School	Class	Hometown
1B	Lexi Johnson*	Southeastern	Sr.	Reserve, La.
2B	Erin Krause*	Nicholls	So.	Cypress, Texas
SS	Reese Reyna*	McNeese	Jr.	Santa Fe, Texas
3B	Haylie Savage*	HCU	Jr.	Angleton, Texas
C	Bailey Krolczyk *	Southeastern	Sr.	Corpus Christi, Texas
UT	Chloe Gomez*	McNeese	Sr.	Spring, Texas
DP	Audrey Greely *	Southeastern	Sr.	Geismar, La.
OF	Alexa Poche’*	Nicholls	Sr.	New Orleans, La.
OF	AB Garcia*	HCU	So.	Cypress, Texas
OF	Erin Ardoin*	McNeese	Jr.	Moss Bluff, La.
P	Ashley Vallejo*	McNeese	Jr.	New Waverly, Texas
P	Primrose Aholelei*	A&M-Corpus Christi	Jr.	Honolulu, Hawai'i

Second Team

Pos.	Name	School	Class	Hometown
1B	Crislyne Moreno	McNeese	Jr.	Converse, Texas
2B	Mariana Torres*	McNeese	Jr.	Pflugerville, Texas
SS	Brooke Davis	Lamar	Sr.	Keller, Texas
3B	Rylie Bouvier*	McNeese	Jr.	Santa Fe, Texas
C	Ashlyn Walker	Northwestern State	Sr.	Saginaw, Texas
UT	Sydney Hoyt	A&M-Corpus Christi	Sr.	Beach City, Texas
DP	Cameron Niedenthal	Lamar	Sr.	Port Neches, Texas
OF	Cam Goodman*	Southeastern	Sr.	Marrero, La.
OF	Ka'Lyn Watson	Southeastern	Sr.	Missouri City, Texas
OF	Laney Roos	Northwestern State	Sr.	Aubrey, Texas
P	Maggie Darr	Northwestern State	Sr.	Missouri City, Texas
P	Shaelyn Sanders	McNeese	Sr.	Splendora, Texas