Katie Tenboer April 29, 2009

Central shares No. 2 spot in poll

PELLA—Not even listed in the preseason rankings, Iowa Conference champion Central College has climbed all the way to a tie for No. 2 in the National Fastpitch Coaches Association’s Division III softball poll.

Linfield College (Ore.) (36-4) moved back to No. 1 after being ranked No. 2 a week ago. Central (34-4) climbed from No. 4 and shares the No. 2 spot with last week’s leader, East Texas Baptist (35-5).

Iowa Conference rival Wartburg College (35-4) jumped five spots to No. 7 while Luther College (30-7) is among those receiving votes.

Central, Wartburg and Luther are all slated to be in action Thursday in the first day of the Iowa Conference tournament in Pella.

Pairings for the 59-team NCAA Division III tournament will be announced at 10 a.m. Monday.

NFCA Division III Top 25 Poll - April 29

 

Rank

Team

Record

Pts

Pvs

1

Linfield (5)

36-4

194

2

2

Central (1)

34-4

188

4

2

East Texas Baptist (2)

35-5

188

1

4

Wisconsin-Whitewater

32-3

158

7

5

Tufts

34-0

156

5

6

Ohio Northern

32-3

155

11

7

Wartburg

35-4

153

12

8

Cortland State

36-4

137

9

9

Salisbury

30-4

136

14

10

Lynchburg

37-6-1

116

15

11

Louisiana College

32-6

113

2

12

Illinois Wesleyan

28-3

111

13

13

St. Thomas

34-4

108

8

14

Texas-Tyler

31-7

106

6

15

Rowan

30-8

88

16

15

Willamette

29-6

88

10

17

DePauw

26-7

68

19

18

Gustavus Adolphus

32-4

66

21

19

Christopher Newport

35-7

51

17

20

Wisconsin-Eau Claire

27-10

48

18

21

Washington-St. Louis

24-9

38

20

22

William Paterson

29-7

30

24

23

Rochester

31-11

29

25

24

Adrian

32-4

27

21

25

University of Redlands

27-10

24

NR

Others receiving votes:
Point totals in parentheses: Luther (9); Moravian (7); Coast Guard Academy (4); Emory (3); one other received votes but appeared on only one ballot.

Dropped out:
No. 23 Luther

 

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