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Rio Grande's Sydney Campolo and the rest of the RedStorm were picked second in the 2023 States Conference Softball Preseason Coaches' Poll. The RedStorm had 87 points and four first-place votes in the balloting released by league officials on Wednesday.
Rio Grande's Sydney Campolo and the rest of the RedStorm were picked second in the 2023 States Conference Softball Preseason Coaches' Poll. The RedStorm had 87 points and four first-place votes in the balloting released by league officials on Wednesday.
Posted: Feb 01, 2023

Rio picked 2nd in RSC preseason poll

Rio Grande/RSC Sports Information
     MIDDLETOWN, Ohio - The University of Rio Grande has been picked second in the 2023 River States Conference Softball Coaches' Preseason Poll.
     The results of the balloting, conducted among the league's 11 head coaches, was released on Wednesday as part of RSC Softball Media Day activities.
     Rio Grande received four first-place nods and tallied 87 points in the voting.
     St. Mary-of-the-Woods (Ind.), which upended the RedStorm in last year's RSC Tournament championship, finished first in the poll with the remaining seven first-place votes and 89 points.
     Both teams were among the schools receiving votes in the NAIA Softball Coaches' Preseason Top 25 Poll.
     Midway (Ky.) University was picked third in the poll with 69 points and was followed closely behind by Indiana University Southeast with 67 points.
     Aside from Rio Grande, three of the top four teams in the poll reside in the league's West Division.
     A pair of RSC East Division schools are next in the poll with Ohio Christian University and Point Park (Pa.) University tied for fifth overall with 54 points each.
     Predicted just outside of the playoff picture - which is for the top three teams in each division - are WVU Tech with 42 points and Oakland City (Ind.) University with 36 points.
Rounding out the 11-team conference were Carlow (Pa.), Alice Lloyd (Ky.) and Brescia (Ky.).
     St. Mary-of-the-Woods' run to the RSC title last year came with a record of 29-14 overall and 19-7 in the RSC. The Pomeroys, in their first year as an RSC member, won the West Division and also made its first NAIA national tournament appearance.
     Rio Grande won the RSC East last year and ended the season at 40-15 overall and 22-2 RSC with another NAIA national tournament run of its own.
     Head coach Chris Hammond's RedStorm are scheduled to open their 2023 schedule with four games in the Bear Creek Classic hosted by the University of the Cumberlands, Feb. 18-19, in Williamsburg, Ky.
     Rio lost five of its top six hitters from a year ago, with junior shortstop Caitlyn Brisker (Oak Hill, OH) serving as the lone returnee from the group.
     Brisker batted .382 with eight home runs, 18 doubles, five triples and 46 runs batted in.
     Rio's top returning pitcher is junior right-hander Sydney Campolo (New Lexington, OH), who returned from an off-season injury to finish 15-2 with one save and a 2.63 earned run average in 24 appearances.
     Midway (30-16) and IU Southeast (25-25) were both 16-10 in the RSC last year to qualify for the playoffs from the West Division. Ohio Christian (23-21, 18-8 RSC) and Point Park (23-22, 13-13 RSC) were other playoff teams from the East Division.