To say Kansas University’s softball players are rankled by their preseason ranking is an understatement.

“I think it’s a slap in the face,” KU junior second baseman Jessica Moppin said.

In their preseason poll, the coaches of the Big 12 Conference schools with softball programs — Kansas State and Colorado don’t field teams — tapped the Jayhawks for eighth place.

Last season, despite a tepid team batting average of .205, the Jayhawks finished sixth in league standings.

“I can see how they got that from our hitting stats last year,” Moppin said about the eighth-place prognostication, “but it makes me mad.”

Coach Tracy Bunge, now in her ninth season as KU’s head coach, has seen enough preseason polls to know they’re basically meaningless.

“I understand how the polls work,” Bunge said, “but it upsets the kids, and that can be a source of motivation.”

Junior shortstop Destiny Frankenstein, who led the Jayhawks with a .263 batting average last season, also disagrees with the league coaches’ preseason assessment, but she did see a silver lining.

“At least we don’t have a big X on our backs,” Frankenstein said.

Kansas will open this weekend at a tournament in Tucson, Ariz. KU will meet both Oklahoma State and national power Arizona today, tangle Saturday with Northwestern and New Mexico State, then finish Sunday against Tulsa.

Two freshmen who figure to help revive KU’s offense will be making their collegiate debuts in their hometown.

Outfielders Jackie Vasquez and Cyndi Duran, both Tucson high school products, are speedsters with Vasquez looming as the catalyst the Jayhawks lacked last season.

“Jackie is the quickest player we’ll have on the field and she’s a true slapper,” Bunge said.

Fleet left-handed slap-hitters are common in college softball, but the Jayhawks didn’t have one last year. Duran also fits that mold, although she can bat right-handed as well.

Vasquez will start in center field while Duran likely will share left-field duties with junior Ashley Frazer, a part-timer in 2004. Junior Heather Stanley, who played left last season, moves to right.

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The infield is intact with Frankenstein and Moppin beginning their third season as the Jayhawks’ keystone combination. Soph Nicole Washburn, who had a team-high nine doubles last spring, returns at first base. Junior Nettie Fierros is back at third base, hoping to bounce back after hitting just .124 in ’04.

Elle Pottorf, a freshman from Washburn Rural, will be the starting catcher.

“That’s a lot of stress to put on a freshman,” Bunge said, “but Elle has a strong arm and is a great receiver. We’ll try to take some of the pressure off her by calling the pitches.”

Pitching was KU’s strength last season and the Jayhawks could be even stronger on the mound this season even though workhorse Kara Pierce (19-12, 1.62) has graduated.

Kassie Humphreys, solid and sometimes spectacular as a freshman when she logged a 14-12 record and 1.57 ERA, is back, and so is Serena Settlemier. At last.

As a freshman in 2002, Settlemier pitched in 31 games, posting a 12-7 record and 1.88 ERA. Then a wrist injury forced her to red-shirt in 2003. She returned last year, but was able to pitch in only eight games because of swelling in the slow-to-respond wrist.

Now Settlemier and Humphreys give KU a potent 1-2 mound punch while touted freshman Christina Ross, Bunge’s first left-handed pitcher, waits in the wings.

“Those three are all capable of being the No. 1 pitcher on a lot of teams,” Bunge said. “Those three all want the ball.”