HAMBURG, N.Y. – The Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference released the 2017 Softball Preseason Poll this week.  The Hilbert College Hawks were picked to finish in 9th place by the league coaches.

Penn State Behrend is a repeat choice as the best team in the nine-team conference.  The Lions, winners the last two AMCC championship titles, is expected to defend their crown.  Penn State Altoona was selected to finish second while the coaches felt D'Youville would take third this season.

Hilbert was slotted to finish in 9th place, exactly where they finished in 2016, under first-year head coach John Hall. The Hawks, though they went 8-27 a year ago, showed signs of improvement in Hall's rookie year.  Hilbert increased their offensive production and reduced their opponent's offensive successes.  The Hawks reduced the number of 'mercy-rule' games and 11 of their losses were decided by four runs or less.  The 2016 team set multiple Single-season records in Batting (four), Pitching (eight) and Fielding (four).

Hilbert returns a pair of seasoned pitchers led by sophomore Rachel Allen, who became the softball program's All-Time leader with a 5.21 ERA.  The Tonawanda native finished 3rd in the league with 6.98 strike outs per game, 4th with 93 strike outs and 10th in innings pitched (93.1). 

Senior Victoria Dzaak shared duties with Allen in the circle and closed her third season ranked 15th in the AMCC with a 4.88 ERA.  The West Seneca West native is the lone senior on the young squad.

Sophomore catcher Morgan McNeill returns with a .252 average in front of the plate while tossing out 136 from behind the plate.

For the second year in a row, Penn State Behrend's Shannon McDonnell has been selected as the AMCC Preseason Player of the Year.  This year, both Penn State Altoona's Kate Burge and Behrend's A.J. Nichols were chosen as the AMCC Preseason Co-Pitchers of the Year.

Hilbert kicks-off their 2017 season this Sunday (March 5) against Eastern Mennonite University on day one of the Fastpitch Dreams training camp in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  The Hawks will take advantage of their first real days of competition outside (Sunday – Saturday) before they return back to the questionable weather of Western New York.

After a 13-day break, Hilbert is scheduled to host their first game March 24 (Elmira).  They will then open the AMCC portion of their schedule the following weekend at D'Youville's turf complex, March 29.