The Midwest Conference recently released its 2018 Softball Preseason Coaches Poll and Lake Forest College was second in the rankings.
Voting is done by the MWC head softball coaches. Each coach votes for the other nine schools in the league in order of predicted finish. Points are assigned in reverse order of voting (nine points for first, eight for second, etc.). Coaches may not vote for their own teams.
The Foresters, who were 22-16 overall in 2017 and in fourth place in the MWC with a league mark of 12-5, received three first-place votes and 69 points in this year's poll. Defending champion St. Norbert College sits atop the poll with 78 points and five coaches picked the Green Knights to finish first. The final two first-place votes went to Cornell College, whose 64 points ranked fourth behind Illinois College's 68.
Lake Forest returns four all-conference players from last year's team, including MWC Newcomer of the Year Riley Frisbie, a first baseman. Current junior outfielder Maria Zepeda joined Frisbie as First Team All-MWC selections while junior infielder Alyssa Grimm and sophomore catcher Sydney Wyatt earned second team honors.
The Foresters will open the season with four indoor contests at the Associated Colleges of the Midwest Tournament March 3-4 at the Rochester Regional Stadium and Bubble in Rochester, Minnesota. They wil also take on 10 opponents in a six-day span (March 12-17) during their Spring Break trip to Kissimmee, Florida. The Foresters' home opener is scheduled for Saturday, March 24, against the University of Wisconsin-Stout and they will begin league play against visiting Ripon College on Tuesday, March 27. The regular season will come to a close the final weekend of April with the league champion hosting the four-team MWC Tournament May 4-5.
Lake Forest has advanced to the MWC Tournament each of the last 18 years and claimed eight conference titles during that span, including three in a row from 2014-16.
| PLACE | TEAM (First Place Votes) | POINTS |
| 1 | St. Norbert College (5) | 78 |
| 2 | Lake Forest College (3) | 69 |
| 3 | Illinois College | 68 |
| 4 | Cornell College (2) | 64 |
| 5 | Monmouth College | 50 |
| 6 | Grinnell College | 38 |
| 7 | Ripon College | 30 |
| 8 | Lawrence University | 26 |
| 9 | Beloit College | 18 |
| 10 | Knox College | 9 |