The defending Mid-American Conference West Division champion Northern Illinois University softball team was picked to win the division in the 2017 MAC softball preseason poll released Monday.
“I forwarded the poll on to the team this morning and kind of told them we’re now expected to win, which is awesome,” said NIU head coach Christina Sutcliffe. “So let’s just prove them right and go do it. I think that’s probably the biggest difference is the expectation now is to win within our program.”
The Huskies received eight first-place votes from league coaches, the most of any of the league’s 12 teams.