Rounding Third Softball

As we enter the final week of the regular season, the latest Rating Percentage Index (RPI) can show where your team stacks up this season. The RPI is utilized by the NCAA Committee as one of their metrics in selection of teams for postseason play. https://www.ncaa.com/…/soft…/d1/ncaa-womens-softball-rpi

University of Mary Head Coach Dre Frantz has resigned. The former UM All-American led the DII program for just two seasons. During that time the Marauders went 14-77.

This week’s D1 Softball Top 25 has Oklahoma (45-1), UCLA (47-4), Florida State (43-8), Tennessee-Knoxville (39-6), and Texas (39-9-1) featured in the Top 5.

Rank	Team	Overall Record	Record Last Week	Previous Rank
1	Oklahoma	45-1	3-0	1
2	UCLA	47-4	4-0	2
3	Florida State	43-8	4-0	4
4	Tennessee	39-6	2-1	3
5	Texas	39-9-1	0-0	5
6	Georgia	38-10	1-0	7
7	Oklahoma State	41-9	2-1	8
8	Stanford	38-10	4-0	10
9	Duke	43-9	3-1	9
10	Clemson	45-8	1-3	6
11	Washington	35-10	2-0	11
12	Arkansas	36-14	2-1	13
13	Auburn	37-15	2-1	15
14	Alabama	36-16	2-1	16
15	LSU	38-13	1-2	12
16	Oregon	35-11	4-0	17
17	Northwestern	33-10	3-0	19
18	Wichita State	43-8	3-0	20
19	Central Arkansas	36-9	3-0	23
20	Baylor	36-15	2-2	14
21	Utah	30-13	1-3	18
22	Florida	34-16	2-3	21
23	Texas A&M	32-18	3-1	22
24	Louisville	35-14	3-0	25
25	Minnesota	33-16	5-0	NR
Dropped Out
	Kentucky	28-18-1	1-3	24

This past weekend Florida Atlantic dedicated their field to longtime head coach Joan Joyce. The 21 time Hall of Famer passed in March 2022. Her brother and sister, Joey and Janis, were on hand and presented with a plaque with two tickets from the first game held at Joan Joyce Field. Joyce, one of the most legendary names in the sport, coached FAU for 28 seasons amassing a 1002–674–1 record.

RTS heads to T-Town this weekend for a big SEC matchup as No. 12 LSU (37-11, 10-8) visits No. 16 Alabama (34-15, 10-8). The Tigers and Crimson Tide get the series started on Friday at 6:00 pm CT. Check-in on Twitter @Rounding3rdSB and on all RTS Social Media platforms for live in-game action and updates throughout the weekend.

Lander University is promoting assistant coach Maddie Gibbs to head coach. She is replacing current coach Glen Crawford who is stepping down at the end of the season to become Athletic Director at Columbia College. Gibbs was hired on the coaching staff for the Bearcats in the summer of 2020. She had spent the previous two seasons at her alma mater Reinhardt University where she had played for Crawford when he coached the program there.

Kella Goins has been named the permanent head coach at Queens University of Charlotte. Goins had been appointed interim head coach last month after the resignation of former coach Stacey Schramm. She has led the Royals to a 10-13 record since. Goins was named assistant coach in fall 2022 after completing a standout playing career at Lincoln Memorial in 2021. The newcomer to the coaching ranks takes on the task of leading the latest program to join the ranks of Division I.

Untouchable Oklahoma (42-1) still tops this week’s D1 Softball Top 25 Poll.

Rank	Team	Overall Record	Record Last Week	Previous Rank
1	Oklahoma	42-1	3-0	1
2	UCLA	43-4	4-0	2
3	Tennessee	37-5	3-0	3
4	Florida State	39-8	4-0	5
5	Texas	39-9-1	3-0	9
6	Clemson	44-5	4-0	6
7	Georgia	37-10	4-0	7
8	Oklahoma State	39-8	0-4	4
9	Duke	40-8	4-0	8
10	Stanford	34-10	3-1	10
11	Washington	33-10	2-1	12
12	LSU	37-11	3-1	14
13	Arkansas	34-13	3-1	11
14	Baylor	34-13	0-3	15
15	Auburn	35-14	3-1	20
16	Alabama	34-15	2-3	13
17	Oregon	31-11	3-0	19
18	Utah	29-10	1-2	17
19	Northwestern	30-10	2-1	16
20	Wichita State	40-8	4-0	22
21	Florida	32-13	1-2	18
22	Texas A&M	29-17	3-1	21
23	Central Arkansas	33-9	2-1	24
24	Kentucky	27-15-1	2-2	23
25	Louisville	32-14	4-0	NR
Dropped Out
	South Carolina	32-15	2-3	25

RTS heads to Athens this weekend for a Top 25 SEC matchup as No. 25 South Carolina (32-12, 7-8) visits No. 7 Georgia (34-10, 12-5). The Gamecocks and Bulldogs get the series started on Friday at 6:30 pm EST. Check-in on Twitter @Rounding3rdSB and on all RTS Social Media platforms for live in-game action and updates throughout the weekend.

Oregon Tech (36-5) is ranked No. 1 in the latest NAIA Top 25 Poll. The Owls garnered 18 of 19 first-place votes. Our Lady of the Lake (38-4) comes in No. 2 with one vote.

RANK	LAST WEEK	SCHOOL [1st Place Votes]	RECORD	FINAL POINTS
1	1	Oregon Tech [18]	36-5	529
2	2	Our Lady of the Lake (Texas) [1]	38-4	512
3	3	Cumberlands (Ky.)	36-3	495
4	5	Southern Oregon	31-7	465
5	7	Oklahoma City	33-7	449
6	6	Texas A&M Texarkana	28-3	442
7	4	Baker (Kan.)	28-6	438
8	8	College of Idaho	37-6	401
9	9	Science & Arts (Okla.)	27-11	383
10	12	Marian (Ind.)	33-3	373
11	10	Georgia Gwinnett	32-9	370
12	13	Northwestern (Iowa)	37-2	356
13	11	Middle Georgia State	31-9	323
14	14	Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.)	20-7	312
15	15	Mobile (Ala.)	28-11	278
16	17	Ottawa (Kan.)	33-6	273
17	18	Central Methodist (Mo.)	24-8	241
17	16	Southeastern (Fla.)	26-12	241
19	19	William Carey (Miss.)	33-9	224
20	22	Indiana Wesleyan	28-10	213
21	21	Coastal Georgia	31-8	187
22	24	Hope International (Calif.)	29-9	140
23	23	Campbellsville (Ky.)	25-11-1	125
24	25	Eastern Oregon	24-14	109
25	20	Mount Vernon Nazarene (Ohio)	23-10	95

Dropped from the Top 25: N/A

Others Receiving Votes: Indiana Tech 92, Reinhardt (Ga.) 83, Friends (Kan.) 56, Missouri Baptist 47, Midland (Neb.) 39, Mount Mercy (Iowa) 23, Truett McConnell (Ga.)19, Saint Xavier (Ill.) 15, Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) 12, Mid-America Christian (Okla.) 9, Bellevue (Neb.) 7, Oklahoma Wesleyan 7, Jessup (Calif.) 6, Madonna (Mich.) 4, Dordt (Iowa) 3.