The Hope College softball team is third in the preseason Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association coaches poll for the 2014 season.
Coach Mary VandeHoef's Flying Dutch totaled 23 points to trail reigning league champion Trine (nine points) and Alma College (19).
Last season, Hope ended MIAA play in fourth place and advanced to the league tournament. The Flying Dutch had a 17-19 overall record for the season.
In 2014, VandeHoef begins her fourth season with a roster of 20 players that includes 14 returning letterwinners. There are one senior, nine juniors, six sophomores and four freshmen. Co-captains this season are senior catcher/infielder Emma Page of Portage (Portage Central HS) and junior infielder Peyton Wells of Rockford (Rockford).
Trine received eight out of a possible nine first-place votes in the preseason poll of the league's coaches. Alma received the other first-place vote. Coaches could not vote for their own team.
MIAA Preseason Poll Results (first-place votes in parenthesis)
1. Trine (8) 9 points
2. Alma (1) 19
3. Hope 23
4. Adrian 25
5. Saint Mary's 38
6. Calvin 41
7. Kalamazoo 52
8. Olivet 54
9. Albion 63
