HUDSONVILLE, Mich. – In a preseason poll of the nine Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) coaches, the Trine University softball team has been tabbed to five-peat as champions.
The Thunder received points totaling 63 points including seven first-place votes to take the top spot in the poll. The points are determined by votes cast by the association's coaches, who cannot vote for their own team. Calvin University, which finished second last season both in the regular season and MIAA tournament, kept the vote from being unanimous with two first place votes and 58 points to finish second.
The national poll was unanimous, with the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) selecting Trine, the reigning national and MIAA champions, as the best team in the country. The Thunder were the only MIAA program featured in the preseason poll.
Last season Trine finished the MIAA season with a 15-1 record before sweeping the postseason tournament to earn the automatic qualifier for the national tournament. It was the program's 12th MIAA championship and its fourth straight.
Headlining the group of returners is last year's freshman phenom, Debbie Hill. Hill was named the TUCCI/NFCA Division III Freshman of the Year as well as reaching earning a spot on first-team NFCA All-American and first-team All-MIAA.
She ended the regular season nationally ranked in multiple pitching statistics including ERA (1.06), hits allowed per game (4.62), strikeout-to-walk ratio (8.09), strikeouts per game (8.6) and WHIP (0.81). At the same time, she was one of the best power hitters in the country sitting just outside of the top-ten with 12 home runs and 0.31 home runs per game.
Three other NFCA All-Region honorees join Hill in returning to the roster. Alexis Michon returns as the other ace on the staff. Last year she served the role of closer for the team while distinguishing herself as a strikeout artist. She was sixth in the nation with four saves in the 2023 season while sitting eighth with a 10.44 strikeout-per-walk ratio, 14th with a 0.81 WHIP and 18th with 9.1 strikeouts per game. Michon earned second team All-MIAA status on the back of a league leading three saves and 9.52 strikeouts per game during conference play.
Ellie Trine returns for a fifth season with the program. Last season she made her second appearance on the All-Region team. Despite battling through injuries in 2023, she remained a force atop the batting order. Ellie currently was top-fifty in the nation with five triples and 0.15 triples per game. She earned her third appearance on an All-MIAA team after finishing conference play second with four triples, fourth with eight walks and sixth with 17 runs scored.
Karley Trine missed out on All-MIAA last season but earned a spot on the All-Region team. She has had a stellar freshman campaign playing most of the season in right field and batting third in the lineup. She finished with a .393 batting average, a .439 on-base percentage and a .643 slugging percentage, top-five on the team in each category. She was nationally ranked having averaged one RBI per game.
Trine is set to open the 2024 slate when they travel to the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Columbus Ga. During the three-day event, the Thunder are set to face four teams currently ranked by the NFCA. They open with Babson College and 16th ranked East Texas Baptist University on Friday, March 1.
