BURNSVILLE, Minn. – In the 2025 NSIC softball preseason coaches' poll, the Augustana Vikings were picked to repeat as conference champions while Grace Glanzer—the reigning NSIC Pitcher of the Year—was also selected as the NSIC Preseason Pitcher of the Year.
 
AU earned 14 first-place votes to claim the top spot in the poll for the sixth consecutive season alongside 196 points. Concordia-St. Paul was picked second with 174 points and Minnesota State was third with 163 points and one first-place vote.
 
"I am very excited for this year's team," said Head Coach Gretta Melsted. "Although we graduated an outstanding senior class we have picked up where we left off.
 
"We have a deep pitching staff and return a lot of talented position players and hitters. This team has a lot of motivation and is very driven. I like how they want to uphold the tradition and standards of Augustana Softball. They are fun to work with and have high expectations of themselves and each other. They make me proud."
 
Glanzer enters her final year of eligibility after compiling a 28-5 record last season with a 0.64 ERA across 228.1 innings pitched. She earned the honors of NFCA and D2CCA First Team All-American, NFCA Regional Pitcher of the Year, NFCA and D2CCA First Team All-Region and NSIC Newcomer of the Year following her first year with the Vikings.
 
"Grace is a pitcher like no other," said Melsted. "She is a true student of the game and her talent speaks for itself. She is one of the best pitchers I've ever coached in my career.
 
"What sets Grace apart besides her pitching talent, competitiveness, and softball IQ is who she is as a person. She is extremely personable and puts others at ease around her. She makes everyone around her better. An elementary education major, she has the ability to relate to young and old and in-between. She's a well-rounded, fun-loving person who is a joy to be around and to coach."
 
The conference also announced Players to Watch for each team, which included Augustana's Andrea Cain, who earned First Team All-Conference and Second Team D2CCA All-Central Region honors last season. Cain's 2024 campaign culminated in a .363 batting average with 82 hits and 14 home runs alongside 62 RBI.
 
"Andrea is an incredible athlete," said Melsted. "She has natural athleticism but she combines it with not only an incredible work ethic where she has complete and utter attention to detail but with a fiercely competitive nature. Her grit and determination are outstanding and she has competitive fire off the charts.
 
"Defensively she would go through a wall in right field to make a catch and offensively she is a serious threat at the plate. She is a joy to coach, a great student, and most importantly she is a great human being with high character and integrity."
 
Augustana will open its season next Friday at the Mardi Invitational in Youngsville, Louisiana. The Vikings are set to face No. 12 Mississippi College and Southern Arkansas on the season's opening day of Jan. 31, followed by Harding and Texas A&M Kingsville on Feb. 1. The invitational will conclude with games again Alabama-Huntsville and Miles College on Feb. 2.