Jan. 26, 2010
LOS ANGELES - Loyola Marymount has been selected to finish second in the Coastal Division of the 2010 Pacific Coast Softball Conference preseason coaches poll, the conference office announced Tuesday. LMU received three divisional first-place votes and one overall first-place vote as Sacramento State was voted the favorites in the Coastal Division and defending champion Portland State was picked as both the Mountain Division and overall champion.
All 12 conference head coaches voted in the poll. Each head coach predicted the order of finish in both the Coastal and Mountain Division and also chose an overall conference champion. A school receiving a first-place vote to win their division scored six points, second place was worth five points and so forth. The 2010 season will mark the PCSC's eighth season of play. The conference expanded this year from six teams to 12 and split into the two divisions. All schools will play a 20-game conference schedule against teams within their own division. The two division winners will meet May 14-15 in the best-of-three PCSC Championship Series at the site of the Coastal Division winner. The winner of the PCSC Championship Series will earn the conference's automatic NCAA Regional bid.
Loyola Marymount has won the most PCSC titles with three -- 2003, 2005 and 2007. Portland State won PCSC titles in 2006 and 2008, and Santa Clara (2004) and Sacramento State (2008) have also each won a conference championship.
This season, Portland State received 9-of-12 possible votes to win the inaugural PCSC Championship Series, as well as all 12 votes in the Mountain Division. Sacramento State received nine first-place votes to win the Coastal Division and also tallied two votes to win the overall conference championship.
LMU received the other vote to the win the PCSC title and garnered 54 points overall to trail Sacramento State's 68. The Lions went 24-30 overall in 2009 and 10-10 in conference play to finish fourth. LMU returns three All-PCSC performers from last year in junior Amy Charpentier and sophomores Sam Fischer and Kelly Sarginson, as well as former First Team All-PCSC selection senior Melissa Dykema.
The Lions open play in the 2010 season with five games at the Sportco Kick-Off Classic in Las Vegas, Nev. from February 12-14.
2010 PCSC Preseason Coaches Poll
| Coastal Division | Pts. | | Mountain Division | Pts. |
| Sacramento State (9) | 68 | | Portland State (12) | 72 |
| Loyola Marymount (3) | 53 | | Seattle | 50 |
| Saint Mary's | 42 | | Northern Colorado | 41 |
| San Diego | 39 | | Utah Valley | 37 |
| Cal State Bakersfield | 34 | | Idaho State | 34 |
| Santa Clara | 16 | | Weber State | 18 |
Overall Champion: Portland State (9), Sacramento State (2), Loyola Marymount (1)
- GO LIONS -
