D 3 softball

Started by oldNorse, April 10, 2009, 06:34:25 PM

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justafan12

With some teams at the quarter pole in the season, I figured I would add my 2 cents on the current rankings. 

#1 Virginia Wesleyan - undefeated and should stay that way.  They do have a challenger for their conference in #5 Randolph-Macon which should provide them with good competition.  Also have a non conference DH against #8 CNU on their schedule
#2 TLU - only loss to VWU and don't see many losses in front of them either.  Their conference is extremely weak so they should stay where they are.
#3 UTT - they will have 3 tough games coming up against ETBU and then again in conference tournament.  They should be in the race for a world series spot.
#4 Williams - only a few games for them so far. Looks like they have some tough games coming up on their schedule so time will tell.
#5 Randolph-Macon - up and coming with some decent wins so far.  Their match with #1 VWU will tell if they are for real.

#6-10 Berry, Trine, CNU, Luther and Wisconsin Whitewater - all good tradition powers who should stay in the top 15th throughout the year.  All should be in the hunt for regional if not superregional titles.

Others:
#11 St. John Fisher - not surprised with their 7-5 record.  They have a good pitcher but not much else; lost a lot to graduation last year. Went 2-4 at leadoff classic but it was their first games of the year.

RV Claremont-Mudd-Scrips - Should be moving up in the poles.  5-1 record at the Leadoff Classic.  Will be a battle between them, George Foxx and Linfield for best out West.



Mr. Ypsi

Don't sleep on IWU.  Now 13-3, with an 11 game winning streak (6-0 in the CCIW).  Now ranked #6 in the country.  Their best pitcher and best hitter are both sophomores.

I'm generally more of a baseball poster, but have all but given up on IWU baseball this year. :(  I have high hopes that IWU may become a softball power - if not this year, then very soon! ;D

amh63

Amherst won a three game series over Middlebury this weekend.  Sets up a big series against Williams next weekend...arch rivals that are both nationally ranked in the top 25 presently.
Over the weekend, Amherst won a three game series over Williams in baseball at home.  I mention it because almost 150 years ago the two schools played the first college basegamemin Pittsfield, Ma.  Both schools were all male then.  Seems the ladies are playing their version of the "ball game" quite well and both appear to be heading towards the post season...again :)

justafan12


I'm generally more of a baseball poster, but have all but given up on IWU baseball this year. :(  I have high hopes that IWU may become a softball power - if not this year, then very soon! ;D
[/quote]

I am not sure what defines a softball power but IWU has traditionally been a very good team.  They have made several National Championship appearances over the past few years and are traditionally ranked in the top 25.

justafan12

My updated top 10 review:

#1 Virginia Wesleyan - suffered their first loss this week against #4 Randolph-Macon.  Still should remain at the top spot IMO.
#2 TLU - still winning in a weak conference.  Don't see them moving ahead of VWU since they lost in a head to head matchup at the Leadoff Classic.
#3 UTT - still rolling along including a three game sweep of #10 ETBU with 2 wins being run rule victories.  4 players hitting over .500.
#4 Randolph-Macon - appear to be the real deal with their split with VWU with both games being a 2-1 score.
#5 Berry - solid team who should be in contention for WS birth (note: against #2 TLU they roughed up TLU #1 pitcher for 5 ER in 1.2 innings in 9-7 loss. Berry #1 pitcher did not pitch).
#6-10 Moravain, St. Mary's, St. Thomas, Luther and ETBU - Most of these moved up due to losses to other teams. St. Thomas and Luther always strong teams.

Others:
#14 George Fox and #16 Linfield - class of the West with one of them having a good shot at playing in a SR

Since the NCAA does not care/recognize the NFCA poll most of the above does not matter.  Their regional polls came out 4/19 with their geographical rankings.  It will be interesting how they handle the TLU / UTT situation given both are a national power this year.  Same with VWU / Randolph-Macon.  Those 4 teams have a combined 6 losses so far but only 2 will make it to OKC while someone like St. John Fisher (17-7 so far) will make it to OKC given their weak region. 
A breakdown of the 8 NCAA regions with the number of NFCA ranked teams shows this:
Atlantic - 6 teams (1,4,5,6,11,23)
Central - 3 teams (7,13,20)
East - 2 teams (21, 25)
Great Lakes - 2 (18,23)
Midwest - 3 teams (8,9,16)
New England - 2 (12,19)
Northeast - 1 team (15)
West - 5 teams (2,3,10,14,16)

Mr. Ypsi

IWU swept (then) #2 NCC in a DH today (@NCC), moving to 11-1 in the CCIW.  They are in GREAT shape to win their 4th regular-season title of the last 5 years.  The CCIW has never had much respect (or deserved it) nationally, but I have hopes.  If not this year, then most of the top Titans are still young, so SOON.  (As far as I could find, the CCIW has usually bowed out before the national tourney, and has won more than one game in the national tourney only once: IWU in 2003.)

phil

Alanna Namit of TCNJ pitched a no-hitter against 23-9 Kean on Saturday. It was her fourth no-hitter of the season – an NCAA DIII record for freshmen. The Lions are 21-6 and Namit is 12-0 with 97 Ks in 74 innings. Picked to finish 7th in the NJAC, the Lions are 24-6 and have a two game lead in the conference on #21 Rowan and a five game lead on #25 William Paterson... and a whopping 1 vote in the NFCA poll. But I forgive the NFCA, they've been spending most of their time lobbying the NCAA (successfully), for no recruiting contact between student athletes and D1 college coaches until September 1 of the athlete's Junior year in high school. It's hitting close to home here in Texas as my 13 yr. old daughter was on the phone with an ACC coach on Friday night who was explaining the ramifications of this ruling to her. She's already had a 6th and two 7th grade friends verbal to Florida State and Florida (2). Another six 8th grade friends have verballed to SEC teams. I would have been fine with September 1 of their Soph. year, but either way, I think it helps the silliness I'm seeing down here. I watched four girls from the same select team – who don't graduate until 2023 - go on an unofficial visit out of state to a college who has a reputable softball program. However, this college has a four-year graduation rate of 13%. That's downright embarrassing, yet i doubt anybody involved gives a damn because their daddy's have a dream of watching their kid play on ESPN2 someday – even though a softball scholarship to this school + six years to graduate (the rate of graduation goes up to 48.5% after six years), means you're spending more money to go to this school than you would to attend Texas A&M for four years with no scholarship. I'm seeing wayyy too many kids and parents choosing a college for their softball program – with absolutely no clue whatsoever what the college offers academically. I guess that's the beauty of DIII, this nonsense isn't happening here!

Mr. Ypsi

IWU is now 22-8-1.  They beat UWW 3-0 in the first of two; the second was declared a 2-2 tie after 8 innings, as rain had hampered the last two innings.  The first regional rankings will come out before their next games.

justafan12

First regional rankings is already out on NCAA website.  IWU is #1 and UWW is #3 in Great Lakes region.  Not sure how often NCAA updates their rankings; seems like they do a total of 3 before they make their selections.

https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/softball/d3/regional-rankings


justafan12

Most conferences finish up their tournaments this weekend with selection by the NCAA on Monday.  I have gone through the conferences and based on the current records determined how many from each conference will get in.  In the case of a single bid conference I did not select who that might be (who ever wins the conference tournament).  If I had a multi bid conference I will note the teams.  Here goes:

Single bid conferences  Total of 31 bids
Alleghney, Centennial, City Univ of NY, Colonial, Commnwealth, Empire 8, Great Northeast, Heartland, Landmark, Little East, Massachusetts State, Middle Atlantic CW, Middle Atlantic Freedom, Midwest, Minnesota, New England Collegiate, North Atlantic, North Coast, North Eastern, Northern, Penn State, Presidents, Skyline, Southern, Southern Calf. Southern Collegiate, St. Louis, SUNY, Upper Midwest, USA South, Independents

2 bid conferences Total of 14 bids
American Southwest (UTT, ETBU) , Capital Athletic (CNU, Salisbury), College Conf of Ill and Wisc (Illinois Wesleyan, North Central), Liberty (RPI, RIT), New England (MIT, WPI, Northwest (George Fox, Linfield), Ohio Athletic (Ohio Northern, Otterbein), Wisconsin (Stout, Whitewater)

3 bid conferences 15 bids
Iowa I/C (Central, Coe, Luther), Michigan I/C (St. Marys, Calvin, 1 other), New England Small College (Amherst, Tufts, Williams), New Jersey (Rowan, TCNJ, 1 other), Old Dominion (Lynchburg, Randolph-Macon, VWU)

That's 60 teams so 2 additional teams will make.


cmackowiakSGSN

After falling just one game short of a Capital Athletic Conference title, the Salisbury University softball team received an at-large bid into the 2018 NCAA Tournament! See where they are in the bracket and watch their celebration here:

https://thesuflyer.com/2018/05/07/su-softball-dances-into-ncaa-tournament/

Caz Bombers

highest ranked team in each region to miss the field:

South - Emory & Henry (9)
Central - Otterbein (7)
East - Kean (4)
Great Lakes - UW-Stout (5)
Midwest - St. Catherine (6)
New England - WPI (5)
Northeast - RPI (4)
West - UMHB (7)

these were likely the 8 teams left on the table when the music stopped. Franklin (HCAC) and Cornell College (MWC) were the two bid thieves of Championship Weekend, knocking Transylvania and Lake Forest respectively into Pool C.

the Northeast Region received zero at-large bids, even with LL regular season champion RPI on the table from beginning to end of the selection process. Unfortunately that was probably deserved due to low SOS. Good luck to all in regionals, but mostly Ithaca of course!

justafan12

Okay it's that time again, the annual screwing by the NCAA to D3 softball teams (I am sure they do it in all sports as well).  It's their version of lets have a championship because we have to but we are going to do it the cheapest way possible. 
My history of D3 softball runs about a decade now and I noticed over the past few years a lot of lopsided games at the National Championship.  I wondered what the total amount was so I looked it up.  Over the past 10 years there have been 17 run-rule games at the D3 championship or 11% of the total games played.  In comparison over the same time period, D1 and D2 have had a total of 16 combined or 5% of the total games.  There is obviously more than one factor that causes this but I believe a glaring one is you don't get the best teams at the Finals.  You get teams that make it simply due to their ZIP code.
With that being said, here are my winners and losers from this year's bracket:
Winners
Randolph-Macon – conference foe of #1 Virginia Wesleyan gets to move out of both their regional and potential super regional.  Happy birthday to them.
Emory – getting in for them is easy given they have no conference affiliation and Pool B is weak. Add to that they get to host with 10 losses over Berry who is a conference champion and only 4 losses.
Ithica – gets to host a regional against 3 other teams that have a combined 42 loses. 
Hope and St. Mary's – conference foes and both get to host a regional; a grand total of 90 miles between schools.  Sorry, but this makes no sense!
Virginia Wesleyan – your toughest conference foe who gave you a lost gets sent to other side of the bracket.  They have played 3 of the teams in their regional and super regional bracket and are a combined 7-0 with several run rules.
Losers
Any team in the West region – if the bracket was done correctly, you could easily have 3 teams from the West region be in the final 8.  Instead you will get 1.  The winner coming out of that super regional will be battle tested and should be a favorite to win it all. You have two conference champions at the TLU regional with a combined total of 2 loses.
Virginia Wesleyan – they don't get to host!!!!

Teams from same conference that are in different regionals
CNU and Salisbury*
W. Whitewater and W. Oshkosh*
Central, Coe and Luther*
St. Mary's and Calvin
Tufts
TCNJ and Rowin
Randolph Macon and Virginia Wesleyan*

*these teams will not meet at super regionals either.

justafan12

Wait, I forgot something; out of the kindness of their heart the NCAA is going to reseed the 8 teams that make it to OKC.  They are such a caring organization. 

Mr. Ypsi

IWU hosted a regional, and swept it 3-0.  Ally Wiegand (only a sophomore) was MOP with two complete game shutouts and the save today.  They're in the super-regional for the third straight year - the opponent will be the winner of the UWW regional, which won't finalize until tomorrow due to rain.