ST. JOSEPH – The Missouri Western softball team will debut the 2016 season with a national ranking. The team is slotted at No. 16 in the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Division II Softball Coaches Poll.

Missouri Western is the only MIAA school to appear in the poll with Central Missouri just outside the top-25 with 47 votes. The Griffons finished 4th in the MIAA last season, going 36-21 overall and 17-9 in the MIAA. Seven starters and nine letter winners return from last year’s team. Key returners include 2015 All-MIAA selections Janie Smith (P-2nd Team), Morgan Rathmann (OF-2nd Team), Paige Shifflett (DP-2nd Team) and Katie Klosterman (3B-Honorable Mention).

Jen Bagley Trotter is in her 15th year as the head coach at Missouri Western and sits just 10 wins away from 500 career victories (490-296). She has led the Griffons to 10, 30-win seasons, coached 71 All-MIAA selections and has advanced to the NCAA Regional Tournament eight times. In 2010, she led the program to its first MIAA Regular Season Championship and followed with its first MIAA Tournament Championship in 2014. Bagley Trotter has been named MIAA Coach of the Year three times (2004, 2009 and 2011).

Missouri Western begins its season on Feb. 6 at the Ronnie Hawkins Invitational in Arkadelphia, Arkansas.

— MWSU Athletics —