u/CheeryBlond

Navy is the consensus #1 in the Patriot League to start the year. Coming off a regular season title last year with conference POTY and DPOY Zanai Barnett-Gay, Navy look to get over the hump after an overtime loss to Lehigh in the Patriot League Semifinals ended their hopes of an NCAA tournament run.

Returning Barnett-Gay alongside Sophomore Zoe Mesuch and Junior Julianna Almeida, Navy maintains their top 3 leading scorers and assist leaders from last season. Joining Navy is a freshmen class that includes Kelsey Rhyne, who ended her high school career 9th all time in 3 pointers made in the state of North Carolina, and Isabela Grant, who saw action at the FIBA Central American U-19 Women’s Championship with Panama in 2025.

Army enters as the expected number 2 with returning first team all-conference Camryn Tade and second team Kya Smith receiving preseason all-conference honors. With Senior Taylor Wilson and Sophomore Reganne Reardon returning, Army returns 4 of their top 5 scorers, top 4 rebounders, and their top 2 assist leaders with Junior Brooke Wilson.

Lehigh gets Navy’s first place vote after knocking Navy out of the conference tournament 7 months ago. Bolstered by all-freshman team selection Leila Edwards and third team all-conference returner Whitney Lind, Lehigh looks to continue a string of strong seasons that saw the Mountain Hawks reach the finals of the patriot league tournament the last two years, including a title in 2025. With leading scorer Lily Fandre graduated, but much of the starting lineup still in tact, Lehigh enters hoping to play spoiler. The Mountain Hawks also begin their season at UCLA, so it can only get easier from there.

Reigning champs Holy Cross look to regroup after graduating 4 seniors who accounted for 2/3 of scoring and over half of rebounds a year ago. Seniors Janie Bachmann and Kendall Eddy lead the Crusaders who will hope their luck hasn’t run out as they attempt to make their 4th NCAA tournament in the last 5 years.

Reigning three-peat conference champion Fairfield looks to take a fourth in a row before the Stags move to the CAA next year. Fairfield has gone 64-2 in conference play since 2023, and return Metro Conference POTY Kaety L’Amoreaux who received Preseason POTY honors to start the season.

Siena with Sophomores Francesca Schiro and Kaiya Rain Tucker and Junior Nicole Melious look to make the leap, picked to finish 2nd and likely favorites next year if they keep the core with Fairfield leaving and Sacred Heart’s stars graduating this year. The Sophomore jump (or slump) could make Siena a dangerous contender this year.

Still, it’s Fairfield’s conference to lose, with their last loss to a conference opponent not named Quinnipiac being in the 2022-2023 conference tournament vs Siena.

Preseason All-AE

1. Kendall Bennett, Binghamton – Sr., Forward
   2. Bella Pucci, Binghamton – Sr., Guard
   3. Malia Lenz, Vermont – Sr., Guard
   4. Mia Mancini, Bryant – Sr., Guard
   5. Nia Scott, Bryant – Sr., Forward
   6. Heidi Williams, UMBC – So., Guard

America East Champs Vermont were picked third after 3/5 starters graduated. Binghamton kept pretty much everyone, and graduated only two seniors. But the tiers stay the same as last year’s results: 1-4 are still 1-4, 5-8 are still 5-8, and UMass-Lowell is still expected to be bad.

Xavier building expectations for the first time in a while. Lots of teams were pretty young last year, so maybe a 2-bid (hopefully 3-bid) conference this year.

Played with auto-upgrade for the first time in a while for a challenge, and somehow got this team to a 40-0 season. All those times with what I thought was a dominant team just to go 39-1 in other saves.

Probably going to get knocked out first round like normal next season.

College summer ball always seems to have its quirks, and the Corn Belt League is no exception. 7 inning games, 2:45 time limit, no home ballparks (just a few different city and school fields), and the option of a 10-man batting order that I was not prepared for. Beautiful day for some shenanigans as the rain held off. Got to see a bat accidentally thrown over a dugout, a batters interference on a steal attempt, and a pitcher removed after throwing a single pitch for a foreign substance. Being the cheapest baseball ticket in Omaha these next few weeks, it was an enjoyable experience that I will surely attend again soon.

Creighton needed the weekend sweep and some help to secure the 1 seed for next weekend’s Big East Tournament. Came up short on the Saturday leg. Had some odd instances throughout the game, like an out attributed to leaving the box early, and almost an inside the park home run that was called out at home.

Wanted to try out scoring, but was concerned about ripping through paper and starting a book I would never use again. Got inspired by the other notecard scorecards and decided to pencil out my own. I liked the manageable size, but almost ran out of room on my 3X5 card. Definitely want double-sided blank notecards to do it again. Some individualized nomenclature (I started on the baseball scorekeeping Wikipedia page and searched up other instances as they arose), so some improvements for next time, like the lines to denote lineup changes I found on this sub after about 3 pitching changes.

Not a big baseball fan entering today, but the scorecard helped so much. I listed to radio on my front porch until the rain delay, and finished out watching on tv. I’ll definitely be doing it again.