Gannon, West Chester top PSAC softball coaches polls

Gannon and West Chester will meet for the next Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference softball title.

At least that’s the sentiment of conference coaches, who voted those teams as the division favorites on the eve of a new season.

The PSAC will be broken into East and West divisions this year.

Gannon is the team to beat in the West, while West Chester, ranked No. 23 in the nation in NCAA Division II, is the top vote-getter in the East.

Gannon, which was 9-8 when the 2020 was cut short over the coronavirus, features six seniors, including Maria Taliani (Deer Lakes) and Lyndsey Lakatos (Shaler).

Seton Hill is No. 2 in the West and was 7-10 before the stoppage last season. Senior Jenna Osikowicz (Hempfield) is a key returnee.

IUP (No. 3), Cal, Pa. (4) and Mercyhurst (5) round out the top 5 in the division.

The other top-rated teams in the East are Kutztown (2), Bloomsburg (3), Shippensburg (4) and Lock Haven (5).

Here are the full PSAC preseason rankings (first-place votes in parenthesis):

East

1. West Chester (6)

2. Kutztown (3)

3. Bloomsburg

4. Shippensburg

5. Lock Haven

6. Shepherd

7. East Stroudsburg

8. Mansfield

9. Millersville

…

West

1. Gannon (5)

2. Seton Hill (2)

3. IUP (1)

4. Cal, Pa. (1)

5. Mercyhurst

6. Pitt-Johnstown

7. Slippery Rock

8. Clarion

9. Edinboro