LORETTO, Pa. – The Saint Francis University softball program was selected to repeat as conference champions in the 2022 Northeast Conference Preseason Poll, the conference announced Thursday.
 
Off their fourth straight NEC title, the Red Flash earned six first-place votes and were selected to finish first for the first time since 2018. LIU landed in second place with the remaining three first-place votes. Central Connecticut, Sacred Heart and Mount St. Mary's rounded out the top-five in that order.
 
Saint Francis defeated LIU 12-4 in five innings to clinch their fourth straight NEC title last season. The Red Flash finished their season in the NCAA Tournament, where they played No. 10 Oregon and No. 11 Texas in Austin, Texas. They finished with a 22-2 conference and 40-10 overall record, their second-highest win total in program history.
 
Returning players are headlined by Mekenzie Saban, Grace Vesco and Rachel Marsden, who all etched themselves in the Saint Francis record book during the 2021 season. Saban set a single-season record for highest batting average at .452 and on-base percentage at .508. She finished second with 76 hits and 20 doubles – falling only short of her own records set in 2019. Her 19 stolen bases were tied for fifth in a single-season.
 
Vesco set a new program record with 196 strikeouts last season and had the second-lowest ERA at 1.00. She has 239-career strikeouts in just 227.1 innings pitched. Marsden finished the 2021 season with the third-lowest ERA at 1.62. Vesco finished the season fifth in the NCAA Division I in ERA and Marsden finished 45th, the only NEC pitchers in the top-125.
 
The Red Flash return four players, Saban, Jordan Frank, Jordan Pietrzykoski and Lexi Hernandez, with at least 45 games started last season. Four other players, Madeline Barnes, Sydney Baker, Lindsay Ward and Lauren Aubry appeared in at least half of Saint Francis' games. The team added four freshmen to the 2022 roster and no transfers.
 
Saint Francis is set to begin its quest for a fifth straight title on Friday, Feb. 11 at 12 p.m. against IUPUI in the Elon Softball Classic. The Red Flash have a notable game against USA Today/NFCA Coaches Poll No. 15 Clemson on Saturday, Feb. 26.