Hopefully by the end of the season there will be many SunBelt teams in the National Polls. Polls, to me don't mean much, just some people's opinions. The final at the end of the year is what shows the whole body of work that the teams have performed.

The Ragin Cajuns, who went to a Super Regional in 2023 were ranked in all of the National Polls; Softball America - 23, D1 - 21, USA/ESPN - 21 and NFCA - 21. Nice to have the Sun Belt represented.

(12-05-2023 02:35 PM)BirdofParadise Wrote:  

(12-05-2023 01:59 PM)CoachMaclid Wrote:  Marshall has dropped their 2024 schedule today - Coach Morgan Zerkle's first season as coach will see Marshall's OOC schedule take a significant jump in degree of difficulty. We will open in the FAU tournament against Arkansas, Penn State, Michigan State x2, and FAU. We will also play in the Arizona tournament against Arizona x2 and Indiana (which features Marshall's former 18-year head coach Shonda Stanton who coached Zerkle at Marshall). Marshall will host 2 events - the first will feature Purdue, Butler, and Radford and the second will feature Notre Dame x2, Ball State, and Indiana State. During the conference season, we have midweek games versus Kentucky, Virginia Tech, and Ohio.
https://herdzone.com/news/2023/12/5/mars...4-schedule

This season will see some significant stadium changes at Marshall. Lights were installed this offseason, so Marshall will have its first ever softball night games this year. We will have a new large videoboard, a new softball-specific facility that will have an indoor practice facility, lockeroom, and new concession stand for the facility. The chairback seating is all being replaced with new seating this year with the same seating type being put into the new Marshall baseball stadium. Overall, between the significantly beefed up scheduled, the stadium updates and improvements, and with what we have returning, the new coaching staff, Marshall softball feels like it should be taking a full step forward in overall program quality this season.

Good for you! Thumbs up!

Just an FYI, because I know it was a point of contention on this site last year. Marshall had always played a competitive schedule, prior to Meg Lyons. It was Meg's decision to play a "softer" schedule, but now we are back to how it use to be.
While Meg's scheduling didn't do Marshall any favors (No NCAA), it did wonders for her career.

Cajuns are picked by the 12 Sun Belt Coaches to win the Sun Belt and they have 6 players as Pre Season Selections.

https://sunbeltsports.org/news/2024/1/30...-poll.aspx