Softball team moves up to No. 4 nationally in ninth weekly NFCA national poll

By Tim Glon

ADA —The Ohio Northern softball team jumped up two more spots to No. 4 in the ninth weekly Division III poll by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association.

The Polar Bears (35-3) were ranked No. 6 last week, were  No. 11 in week seven, were No. 12 in weeks 3-6 polls, were No. 14 in the second weekly poll and were No. 11 in the first weekly poll.

Northern garnered 157 points in voting conducted by eight NCAA Division III head coaches representing the eight NCAA regions after earning 155 points last week.

Linfield (Ore.) received 200 points and all eight place votes to claim the No. 1 spot.

St. Thomas (Minn.) is second with 178 points, Central (Iowa) is third with 172 points, and Texas-Tyler is tied with ONU fou fourth with 157 points.

The Polar Bears are the top seed at the NCAA Division III Greencastle Regional this Thu.-Sun. at DePauw (Ind.. Click here for the NCAA Tournament web site.

National Fastpitch Coaches Association
Division III Softball Rankings
#9 - May 6, 2009

Rank School 2009 Total Last   (1st-Place Votes) Record Points Week 1 Linfield (Ore.) (8) 36-4 200 1 2 St. Thomas (Minn.) 37-4 178 13 3 Central (Iowa) 36-6 172 t2 4 Ohio Northern 35-3 157 6   Texas-Tyler 34-8 157 14 6 Lynchburg (Va.) 37-6 147 10 7 Tufts (Mass.) 38-1 146 5 8 East Texas Baptist 37-7 145 t2 9 Louisiana College 32-6 134 11 10 Cortland State (N.Y.) 40-6 130 8 11 Salisbury (Md.) 34-4 128 9 12 Wartburg (Iowa) 36-7 110 7 13 Wisconsin-Whitewater 36-5 108 4 14 Illinois Wesleyan 34-4 106 12 15 DePauw (Ind.) 28-7 85 17 16 William Patterson (N.J.) 32-7 83 33 17 Coe (Iowa) 34-10 75 NR 18 Redlands (Calif.) 36-10 46 25 19 Rochester (N.Y.) 31-10 43 23 20 Washington (Mo.) 24-11 34 21 21 Willamette (Ore.)  29-6 32 t15 22 Moravian (Pa.) 34-9 24 NR 23 Rhode Island College 40-5 23 NR 24 Emory (Ga.) 30-10 21 NR 25 Gustavus Adolphus (Minn.) 35-7 19 18

Others receiving votes: 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.

Division III Softball - The Newsletter
Division III Softball Poll
#6 - April 15, 2009

Rank School 2009 Total Last   (1st-Place Votes) Record Points Week 1 Linfield (Ore.) (8) 29-2 387 3 2 St. Thomas (Minn.) 25-3 377 2 3 Louisiana College 28-5 368 4 4 Cortland State (N.Y.) 24-2 312 5 5 Wartburg (Iowa) 29-3 306 6 6 Texas-Tyler 26-4 304 1 7 Wisconsin-Whitewater 21-3 297 7 8 Ohio Northern 21-2 277 9 9 Wisconsin-Eau Claire 20-5 242 8 10 East Texas Baptist 26-6 218 15 11 Tufts (Mass.) (2) 24-0 213 16 12 Christopher Newport (Va.) 31-5 207 10 13 Central (Iowa) 23-3 178 15 14 Adrian (Mich.) 27-3 168 11 15 DePauw (Ind.) 20-7 167 13 16 Luther (Iowa) 22-2 130 NR 17 Rhode Island College 23-2-1 129 17   Birmingham Southern (Ala.) 29-3 129 21 19 Willamette (Ore.)  25-2 102 22 20 Salisbury (Md.) 27-4 99 24 21 Illinois Wesleyan 18-3 78 18 22 Coast Guard (Conn.) 24-2 65 NR 23 Endicott (N.Y.) 20-4 62 21 24 Gustavus Adolphus (Minn.) 19-2 49 NR 25 Emory (Ga.) 28-10 47 12

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