CORVALLIS, Ore. – Coming off a year where the Cascade Collegiate Conference saw three of the final four teams at the 2021 NAIA Championship, the 2022 season is bound for some excitement too. The 2022 Preseason CCC Coaches’ Poll, released Tuesday by the conference office, saw the same three teams at the top.
Oregon Tech grabbed 98 points and eight of the 11 possible first-place votes to sit in the top spot of the preseason poll after winning the 2021 CCC Softball Tournament Championship, presented by U.S. Bank, and finishing as the national runner-up last year. The Owls took Southern Oregon University to extra innings in the NAIA Championship game, but came up just shy of the national title, finishing the year with a 48-10 record.
The College of Idaho picked up two first-place votes and 90 points to sit in second place on the poll. The Coyotes, who advanced to the CCC tournament championship game, finished the 2021 as the No. 3-ranked team in the NAIA with a 44-19 record.
Defending NAIA Champion Southern Oregon University secured one first-place vote and 85 points to pick up the third spot. The Raiders finished the 2021 season with a 55-6 record after grabbing their second-consecutive NAIA Championship. SOU loses a good group from the championship squad, including seven position starters.
Corban University and Eastern Oregon University rounded out the top-five teams on the preseason poll with 70 and 64 points, respectively. Warner Pacific University grabbed 47 points to follow in sixth, while Carroll College sits two points behind the Knights with 45 points for seventh.
UBC returns to the mix after having to sit out the 2021 season due to border closures during the pandemic. The Thunderbirds picked up 38 points to sit in eighth place in the preseason poll, while Bushnell University follows in ninth with 31 points. Northwest University (26 points) and the University of Providence (11 points) close out the poll in 10
th and 11
th, respectively.
The CCC schedule is slated to begin on Feb. 25, 2022, with the conference tournament playing out May 6-8 at the site of the regular-season champion. The regular-season champion and the winner of the CCC tournament will earn the conference's automatic qualifiers (AQs) for the NAIA Tournament, unless they are the same team and then the tournament runner-up will grab the second AQ.
2022 CCC Softball Preseason Poll
| Team (First-Place Votes) |
Points |
| 1. Oregon Tech (8) |
98 |
| 2. College of Idaho (2) |
90 |
| 3. Southern Oregon University (1) |
85 |
| 4. Corban University |
70 |
| 5. Eastern Oregon University |
64 |
| 6. Warner Pacific University |
47 |
| 7. Carroll College |
45 |
| 8. UBC |
38 |
| 9. Bushnell University |
31 |
| 10. Northwest University |
26 |
| 11. University of Providence |
11 |
