NEW ORLEANS – The 2018 Sun Belt Conference softball preseason honors were unveiled, headlined by Texas State sweeping the top honors as senior shortstop Ariel Ortiz was tabbed Preseason Player of the Year and senior pitcher Randi Rupp was tabbed Preseason in a vote by the league’s 10 head coaches.
Ortiz and Rupp lead the 15-player All-Sun Belt team that featured seven first-team and six second-team all-conference selections from 2017.
A first-team All-Sun Belt and second-team National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-Central Region pick a year ago, Ortiz did a little bit of it all for the Bobcats in leading the team in batting average, slugging percentage, hits, RBI, doubles, triples, home runs and total bases.