Burnsville, Minn. – The Northern State University softball team has been picked fifth in the NSIC Preseason Coaches' Poll, as released by the league today. The Wolves garnered 168 total points behind Winona State, Augustana, Minnesota State, and Minnesota Duluth.
 
The Wolves are coming off a 29-22 season in 2018, finishing fifth overall in the league standings. Northern went 18-10 in the NSIC and finished the year with a 1-2 record from the conference tournament, notching the first NSIC opening round victory in program history. Jamie Fisher, Courtney Sjerven, Kennady Thompson (gold glove) were named to the NSIC All-Conference teams, while Fisher tallied Google Cloud Academic All-District® honors.
 
Fisher broke four single season school records in 2018 with 42 pitching appearances, 27 complete games thrown, 231.2 innings pitched, and 22 wins. Offensively the Wolves came up just one point shy of tying the single season school record with a .312 team batting average, which was the first season average above .300 in over two decades. Fisher and Sjerven were picked as the team's players to watch for the 2019 season. Sjerven led the team hitting a career best .395, with 66 hits, 12 doubles, three triples, three homeruns, and 38 RBI.
 
The Wolves return 14 players from a season ago, including eight starters, and welcome six newcomers to the program. Northern opens the season from the Presentation College Invite on February 15 and 16 in Aberdeen.
 

Team	Points
1. Winona State (12)	222
2. Augustana (4)	214
3. Minnesota State	180
4. Minnesota Duluth	179
5. Northern State	168
6. St. Cloud State	159
7. Concordia-St. Paul	140
8. Sioux Falls	135
9. Minot State	105
10. Southwest Minnesota State	82
11. Upper Iowa	79
12. Wayne State	73
13. University of Mary	68
14. Bemidji State	62
15. MSU Moorhead	36
16. Minnesota Crookston	18
first place votes in ( )