Wheeling, W. Va. – As the winter sports season rage on, the Mountain East Conference (MEC) is preparing for the start of spring sports. They released their annual MEC Softball Preseason Poll on Thursday as they previewed the MEC's North and South Divisions. The Wheeling University Softball team is looking to climb the ladder in 2024 and come in at #5 in this season's MEC North Preseason Poll. 

The 2024 season was a year of growth for the Cardinals as their young Cardinals continued to battle through the MEC slate. They kicked things off with a tough non-conference schedule that includes the likes of Seton Hill, UINDY, and IUP. They would get their first win of the season on their trip to Florida, with a 9-4 win over Holy Family, and split their home opening double header with Ohio Dominican before heading into the conference slate. They started things strong, sweeping Anderson Broaddus and West Virginia State in two of their first three series to get out to a 4-2 start in the conference. However, their next win wouldn't come until the middle of April when they beat West Liberty as they finished 5-28 in MEC play. While it wasn't the finish they wanted, the team did a lot of growing along the way. 

It is the start of a new era for the Wheeling Softball program in 2024 as Mallory Chapman takes the reigns in her first season as Head Coach. She graduated from the softball program in 2018 and brings with her a winning tradition, as she was on the last Cardinal team to make the MEC Tournament. She will have a lot of veteran leadership to work with during the season, with 11 players entering their junior season or higher. Leading that group is senior Maddie Munoz, who was the team's lone All-MEC honoree from a season ago, earning Second Team All-MEC honors. Along with the veteran leadership, the Cardinals also bring in a class of nine newcomers to this year's team as they look to build a winning culture for the program. 

Leading the way in the MEC North Division was Frostburg State, who earned 43 points and four first place votes, while Charleston was voted tops in the MEC South Division with 60 points and 10 first place votes. The rest of the MEC Softball preseason poll looks like this: 

MEC North
1. Frostburg State (4) - 43
2. Fairmont State (4) - 41
3. Notre Dame College (3) - 39
4. West Liberty - 23
5. Wheeling - 14

MEC South
1. Charleston (10) - 60
2. West Virginia Wesleyan - 48
3. Davis & Elkins (1) - 44
4. Glenville State - 34
5. West Virginia State - 21
6. Concord - 18

The Wheeling University Softball team kicks off their season on Thursday, February 15th, when they hit the road to face IUP with first pitch at 2 PM.