INDIANAPOLIS – The UW-Parkside softball team was predicted to take sixth in the Eastern Division the Great Lakes Valley Conference announced today. The Rangers received 48 votes in a poll of the league's coaches.

The Rangers will have a new-look this season as they replace five starters from around the diamond a year ago. Coach Laura Fillipp is back for her 11th season at the helm. She has led the program to four GLVC Tournament champion games in her first ten seasons at UW-Parkside.

Defending GLVC Champion Lewis University and the University of Missouri – St. Louis have been chosen as the divisional favorites to take the 2012 Great Lakes Valley Conference Softball Championship.. The GLVC's 16 head coaches voted Lewis to take the GLVC East Division title, after the Flyers posted a record of 36-14 a year ago and took their second-consecutive GLVC tournament championship. Missouri-St. Louis has been tabbed to take the West Division, after a 31-20 showing last season.  This year marks the first season in which the 16 GLVC softball squads will play a divisional schedule.
    
The 2012 GLVC softball season will feature 16 teams for the first time as William Jewell enters its first year in the league, although the Cardinals will not be eligible for the conference tournament. In addition, this is the first year the softball teams will play a divisional schedule, with all 16 teams playing each other in a doubleheader and each divisional opponent in a pair of doubleheaders.
 
The top three teams from the East Division, the top two teams from the West Division and three wild card teams will earn a berth to the 2012 GLVC Softball Tournament April 27-29 at EastSide Centre in East Peoria, Ill.
 

Rank	Team	Total Points	First Place Votes
1	Lewis	116	12
2	Indianapolis	101	2
3	Northern Kentucky	98	2
4	Bellarmine	76
5	Southern Indiana	66
6	UW-PARKSIDE	48
7	Saint Joseph's	39
8	Kentucky Wesleyan	24