CONWAY, S.C. – Coastal Carolina's softball team and head coach Jess Dannelly have been picked for second place in the 2006 Big South Conference's softball preseason poll as voted by the League's Head Softball Coaches and Sports Information Directors, the league office announced today (Jan. 24).

The preseason favorite this season is Winthrop, who garnered seven first place votes and 84 points overall to narrowly finish ahead of the Lady Chanticleers, who received three first place votes and 81 points overall. Winthrop was the conference's regular season champion and were the runner-up in the Big South Tournament last season. Radford received four first place votes and 76 points to finish a close third. The top three were followed by Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (46 points), Birmingham-Southern (45 points), Liberty (44 points), and Charleston Southern (16 points).

Liberty's junior shortstop Jessica Moore, who was the 2005 Big South Softball Player of the Year, was voted as the Conference's Preseason Player of the Year. Moore received six first place votes and 19 points overall to finish ahead of Coastal Carolina's senior pitcher/designated player Meagen Johnson (Georgetown, S.C./Georgetown (Furman)), who had two first place votes and six points overall.

The Lady Chants return 15 letterwinners to the 2006 team, including senior First Team All-Conference selections Johnson and Sara Hostetler (Albuquerque, N.M/Valley). CCU had an overall record of 24-25 last season and finished third in the Big South Softball Tournament.

Coastal opens the 2006 season on Feb. 10 as it hosts the CCU Tournament with games against #3 Tennessee at 4:30 p.m. and Illinois State at 7 p.m.

Winthrop (7) 49 12 15 8 0 0 0 84

Coastal Carolina (3) 21 42 10 8 0 0 0 81

Radford (4) 28 24 10 8 6 0 0 76

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 0 6 10 12 6 12 0 46

Birmingham-Southern 0 0 10 16 12 6 1 45

Liberty 0 0 15 4 18 6 1 44

Charleston Southern 0 0 0 0 0 4 12 16