NEWTOWN, Pa.— Even with the real-feel temperature in single digits, the Middle Atlantic Conference Office today reminded everyone that spring is on the way as it released preseason polls for the upcoming softball season. MAC Commonwealth coaches picked Eastern Unviersity Softball to finish atop the league standings. 

Under Head Coach Terri Adams, the Eagles have seen a steady progression forward. Eastern won the MAC Commonwealth Championship in 2024 and finished as the league runner-up before advancing to an NCAA Regional Championship Game as an at-large invitee to the NCAA Tournament in 2025. The Eagles finished 31-11 and are 61-19 over the past two seasons. 

In this year's poll, the Eagles were picked just ahead of the 2025 Champion Messiah University Falcons. Those two programs split their regular-season doubleheader in Grantham last year, and the Eagles earned a win in the second game of the MAC Commonwealth tournament before Messiah advanced back through an elimination game and scored three times in the top of the seventh to claim a 3-2 win and force a winner-take-all championship game. Messiah rode that momentum to a win in the final. This year, the two teams will meet in St. Davids on April 18.  

Eastern received five of the eight first-place votes in the poll and finished three points ahead of the Falcons who received two first-place votes. 

York and Alvernia finished tied for third with 31 points.  Hood College received the other first-place vote. 

The Eagles will open their 2025 Campaign on March 1 in Florida. Their home-opener is slated for March 11 against Neumann, and they will start MAC Commonwealth play the following Saturday with a doubleheader at York. 

The MAC Commonewealth Championships will be hosted by the top seed and start on April 30.