Rounding Third Softball

Augustana (32-4) stayed in the top spot in this week’s NFCA Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll. This was the fourth straight week at No. 1 for the Vikings which picked up 12 of the 16 first-place votes. No. 2 Valdosta State (32-3) received three first-place votes while No. 4 North Georgia (33-5) got one.

Rank	School	Points	2021 Record	Last Poll
1	Augustana (12)	392	32-4	1
2	Valdosta State (3)	387	32-3	2
3	UT Tyler	366	31-5	3
4	North Georgia (1)	356	33-5	4
5	Indianapolis	332	34-3	5
6	Oklahoma Christian	316	33-5	10
7	Lincoln Memorial	306	36-6	7
8	Young Harris	271	29-8	9
9	Texas A&M-Commerce	264	25-12	6
10	West Texas A&M	238	30-10	12
11	Auburn Montgomery	235	32-5	19
12	Concordia Irvine	202	22-11	11
13	Central Oklahoma	197	29-9	16
14	Grand Valley State	191	31-7	14
15	Rollins	178	16-2	8
16	Colorado Mesa	173	30-2	17
17	Minnesota State	152	28-7	18
18	UAH	141	27-10	13
19	Saint Anselm	136	20-4	15
20	Winona State	97	28-7	20
21	Southern Arkansas	68	20-7	21
22	West Florida	50	27-12	22
23	Angelo State	44	29-11	23
24	Biola	38	19-13	RV
t25	Northwest Nazarene	18	24-9	RV
t25	Texas A&M-Kingsville	18	24-11	24

New to Poll: No. 24 Biola, t-No.25 Northwest Nazarene.

Dropped Out: No. 25 Charleston

Receiving Votes: Kutztown (14), Southeastern Oklahoma State (7), Georgian Court (6), Shepherd (5), Central Missouri (1), Tampa (1).

Even with their first defeat of the season, the Sooners roll on. Oklahoma (37-1) is the unanimous No. 1 ranked team in the nation for the ninth straight week in the USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Coaches Poll.

Rank	School	Points	Record	Last Week
1	Oklahoma (32)	800	37-1	1
2	UCLA	768	28-3	2
3	Florida	720	35-7	3
4	Alabama	698	36-7	5
5	Washington	674	35-9	4
6	Florida State	606	33-7-1	7
7	Texas	564	35-6	9
8	Oregon	559	30-10	6
9	Arizona	535	31-8	10
10	Arkansas	514	37-7	8
11	Oklahoma State	497	36-5	11
12	Arizona State	473	28-11	12
t13	Clemson	376	37-4	16
t13	Louisiana	376	35-9	13
15	Missouri	335	34-10	18
16	LSU	310	28-15	17
17	Kentucky	300	32-12	14
18	Tennessee	251	35-8	19
19	Michigan	201	24-5	20
20	Virginia Tech	182	28-11	15
21	Georgia	179	29-14	21
22	Duke	159	34-10	22
23	Minnesota	82	25-7	24
24	James Madison	61	27-1	t25
25	UCF	49	34-12-1	t25

New to Poll: None

Dropped Out: No. 23 Wichita State

Receiving Votes: No. 23 Wichita State (43), Fresno State (24), Liberty (15), Texas State (12), Notre Dame (10), Ole Miss (8), Miami University (5), USF (5), Auburn (4), BYU (2), Illinois State (2), Cal State Fullerton (1).

There must have been something in the water this past weekend at several Division II Conference Championship Tournaments. As Tusculum cut through the South Atlantic Conference Championship as their tournaments No. 6 seed, upstart Emmanuel College did the same in equally impressive fashion at the Conference Carolinas Tournament. The Lions seeded No. 8 out of eight teams ran through the tournament defeating the No. 1, 2, and 5 seeds to take home the programs first ever conference championship and punch their ticket to the DII NCAA Regionals.

The NCAA Division II Championship Committee has chosen their predetermined regional sites for the 2021 Division II Softball Championship. Each site will host eight team regionals as DII had chosen earlier this year to eliminate their Super Regional round due to pandemic concerns. Due to the ever popular “health and safety protocols surrounding the pandemic”, it was seemingly necessary to conduct all competitions at predetermined sites and pack eight teams into those sites instead of the usual 16, four team regional sites then advancing to eight, two team Super Regional sites. It’s worth noting that Division I did not eliminate their Super Regional round this year and kept their four team regional/two team Super Regional format indicating the move by Division II could be more about cost cutting than safety. The DII Softball Regional Championship will be held May 19-21.

The eight sites chosen are:

Southeast Region, University of North Georgia, Dahlonega, GA

Atlantic Region, Kutztown University, Kutztown, PA

Central Region, University of Central Oklahoma, Edmond, OK

East Region, Saint Anselm College, Manchester, NH

Midwest Region, Grand Valley State University, Allendale Charter Township, MI

South Central Region, Texas A&M University-Commerce, Commerce, TX

South Region, Valdosta State, Valdosta, GA

West Region, Concordia University Irvine, Irvine, CA

Tusculum University entered this past weekend’s South Atlantic Conference Championship as the No. 6 seed after finishing in the same position during the regular season. On Sunday, the Pioneers left as tournament champions punching their ticket to the NCAA DII Regionals. Tusculum had an offensive surge through the championship held at their home facility Red Edmonds Field scoring 26 runs in three games downing the No. 1, 2, and 3 seeds. This included defeating regular season champion and No. 7 nationally ranked Lincoln Memorial.

Longtime University of St. Thomas Head Coach John Tschida will step down at the end of the 2021 season. Tschida will be taking over as head coach at his alma mater St. Mary’s University where he was the coach previously from 1994-2000. The NFCA Hall of Fame coach spent 21 seasons with the Tommies amassing 792 wins and leading the program to back-to-back DIII National Championships in 2004 and 2005. UST will be making the unprecedented move from Division III to Division I this summer and will begin a national search for their next head coach in the coming weeks.

USA Softball has announced the 25 Finalists for their Collegiate Player of the Year. The USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award recognizes the top player in all of Division I. The list will be narrowed to 10 and then three finalists. The 2021 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year will be revealed in Oklahoma City before the Women’s College World Series.

The finalist list includes:

Hannah Adams, Sr., INF, Florida

Jocelyn Alo, Sr., UTL, Oklahoma

Aliyah Andrews, Sr., OF, LSU

Sis Bates, Grad., INF, Washington

Sammey Bunch, RSSR., INF, Northern Iowa

Braxton Burnside, Grad., INF, Arkansas

Valerie Cagle, Fr., P, Clemson

Deja Davis, Jr., INF, Duke

Hailey Dolcini, Sr., P, Fresno State

Carrie Eberle, Sr., P, Oklahoma State

Megan Faraimo, RSSO., P, UCLA

Montana Fouts, Jr., P, Alabama

Rachel Garcia, RSSR., P/INF, UCLA

Mary Haff, RSJR., P, Arkansas

Bailey Hemphill, Grad., UTL, Alabama

Janae Jefferson, Jr., INF, Texas

Tiare Jennings, Fr., INF, Oklahoma

Kayla Kowalik, Jr., C, Kentucky

Haley Lee, Jr., C/UTL, Texas A&M

Dejah Mulipola, RSSR., C, Arizona

Gabbie Plain, Sr., P, Washington

Keely Rochard, Jr., P, Virginia Tech

Ashley Rogers, Jr., P Tennessee

Alex Storako, Jr., P, Michigan

Abby Sweet, Sr., OF, Notre Dame

Former San Jose State Softball Coach Pete Turner has filed a lawsuit citing wrongful termination and retaliation against the institution and Athletics Director Marie Tuite. Turner coached SJSU for 14 years until his contract was not renewed last July. He was 21-5 in the pandemic shortened season. The suite alleges the retaliation pertained from players’ exit interviews that were critical of the department, to Turner’s support for others within the athletics department that were also being retaliated against. The suit also mentions Turner was the target of two Title IX investigations initiated by Tuite, in which the investigations exonerated the former coach in both instances. The suit goes on to say Turner was let go on July 10, the day after he filed a grievance through the Cal State University system alleging discrimination, harassment, and retaliation.

San Diego State Head Coach Kathy Van Wyk picked up her 800th career coaching victory today in a 13-10 Mountain West Conference win against Utah State. Van Wyk is in her 25th season coaching the Aztecs and has a 800-554-1 record.

Due to the threat of inclement weather this weekend in Blacksburg, the schedule for the ACC Series between Notre Dame and No. 15 Virginia Tech has shifted.

-Friday doubleheader at 2 & 4 p.m.

-Saturday single game at 9 a.m.

-Sunday’s single game stays at noon

Check-in on Twitter @Rounding3rdSB all weekend for real-time in-game updates as RTS will be on-site at Tech Softball Park.