Teams to watch
Minnesota
Amber Fiser enters the season with more career wins than any pitcher in Division I. And yet the best may be still to come for someone who is already a Minnesota legend. Fiser has already thrown nearly 700 innings despite pitching relatively little as a freshman. She threw a lot of pitches in 2018 and 2019. And maybe some of that workload started to show in a higher walk rate and ERA in 2020 (admittedly a small sample size). But with her accumulated wisdom and a fresh arm, the rest of the country will be glad the Big Ten is set to play a conference-only regular season schedule. The offense will count on Natalie DenHartog and MaKenna Partain, but a sophomore class that includes Delanie Cox, Kianna Davis, Olivia Peterson and Sydney Strelow will be vital in diversifying the run production.