NEW ORLEANS – Louisiana topped the preseason accolades entering the 2020 season, picked as the unanimous preseason favorite to win the Sun Belt Conference softball regular-season title with senior shortstop Alissa Dalton selected as Preseason Player of the Year and senior pitcher Summer Ellyson tabbed as Preseason Pitcher of the Year in a vote by the league's head coaches.
A consensus top 10 in the national preseason polls, Louisiana received all 10 first-place votes and 100 points to headline the coaches' preseason poll with Troy (85 points), UTA (77 points) and Texas State (74 points) rounding out the top four spots.