Kelsey Wright

Central No. 3 in rankings

PELLA—The Iowa Conference champion Central College softball team slipped one notch to third in the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Division III rankings.  

Linfield College (Ore.) remains No. 1 with a 36-4 mark while the Univ. of St. Thomas (Minn.) vaulted from No. 13 to No. 2. The Tommies are 37-4 and won the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament.

Central, 36-6, posted a 2-2 mark in the Iowa Conference tournament at Pella last weekend. Central, St. Thomas and six other schools from the region open play Thursday at Indianola, one of eight first-round sites for the 59-team NCAA Division III tournament. The Dutch take on No. 25 Gustavus Adolphus College (Minn.) (35-7) at 6 p.m. The Golden Gusties won the MIAC title. Iowa Conference rival Wartburg College (36-7) and Washington-St. Louis Univ. (Mo.) (24-11) are also at Indianola and in the rankings. Wartburg is at No. 12 and Washington-St. Louis is at No. 20. League rival Coe College (34-10), which is at a first-round site in Bloomington, Ill., is at No. 17.

NFCA Division III softball rankings

 

Rank

Team

Record

Pts

Pvs

1

Linfield (8)

36-4

200

1

2

St. Thomas

37-4

178

13

3

Central

36-6

172

2

4

Ohio Northern

32-3

157

6

4

Texas-Tyler

34-8

157

14

6

Lynchburg

37-6

147

10

7

Tufts

38-1

146

5

8

East Texas Baptist

37-7

145

2

9

Louisiana College

32-6

134

11

10

Cortland State

40-6

130

8

11

Salisbury

34-4

128

9

12

Wartburg

36-7

110

7

13

Wisconsin-Whitewater

36-5

108

4

14

Illinois Wesleyan

34-4

106

12

15

DePauw

28-7

85

17

16

William Paterson

32-7

83

22

17

Coe

34-10

75

NR

18

Redlands

36-10

46

25

19

Rochester

31-10

43

23

20

Washington-St. Louis

24-11

34

21

21

Willamette

29-6

32

15

22

Moravian

34-9

24

NR

23

Rhode Island College

40-5

23

NR

24

Emory

30-10

21

NR

25

Gustavus Adolphus

35-7

19

18

Others receiving votes:
Point totals in parentheses: Wisconsin-La Crosse (18); Alma (16); Messiah (16); Rowan (13); Wisconsin-Eau Claire (9); Coast Guard Academy (6); Adrian (6); four others received votes but appeared on only one ballot.

Dropped out:
No. 15 Rowan, No. 19 Christopher Newport, No. 20 Wisconsin-Eau Claire, No. 24 Adrian.