The Southern Conference head coaches voted the Georgia Southern University softball team as the preseason favorite to win the 2014 championship, which would be a third straight for the Eagles.

Voting is conducted before every season to decide the preseason favorites for the conference along with the preseason All-SoCon team. The voters consist of the head softball coach from each participating university. GSU received seven first-place votes which gave them 49 points trailed by University of North Carolina-Greensboro with 40.

More good news came for the Eagles as senior pitcher Sarah Purvis was selected as preseason Pitcher of the Year for the second year in a row. Purvis listed one of her season goals as winning the SoCon Pitcher of the Year award at the end of the season.

Three Georgia Southern players were given the honor of being voted preseason All-Conference. Senior shortstop Kourtney Thomas, who led the team in home runs last year, was named to the first team list along with Purvis. Senior Shelby Morrill, who held the top batting average for the Eagles at .340 was named to the second team.

The season will begin for the Eagles next Friday as they host the Eagle Round Robin against the University of Tennessee, Oakland University, and Northern Colorado University. The first game will be on Eagle Field at 5 p.m. against Oakland.