Rounding Third Softball

After rolling through the Southern States Athletic Conference Tournament to claim the championship last week, Mobile (46-2) held tight to the No. 1 spot in the final NAIA Top 25 Coaches Poll. They received 16 of the 18 first-place votes. No. 2 Oklahoma City (42-5) received the other two.

RANK	LAST WEEK	SCHOOL [1st Place Votes]	RECORD	FINAL POINTS
1	1	Mobile (Ala.) [16]	46-2	497
2	2	Oklahoma City [2]	42-5	479
3	4	Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.)	45-3	467
4	3	Oregon Tech	43-10	447
5	5	Science & Arts (Okla.)	44-7	440
6	6	William Carey (Miss.)	45-9	401
7	8	Indiana Wesleyan	46-8	397
8	10	Southern Oregon	46-10	390
9	9	Central Methodist (Mo.)	35-4	388
10	11	Grand View (Iowa)	40-6	348
11	18	Southeastern (Fla.)	43-8	315
12	15	Lindsey Wilson (Ky.)	35-13	284
12	15	Georgia Gwinnett	32-18	284
14	17	Marian (Ind.)	38-9	271
15	RV	Eastern Oregon	39-13	247
16	12	Coastal Georgia	37-10	241
17	25	Our Lady of the Lake (Texas)	41-9	239
18	19	Columbia (Mo.)	28-10	228
19	20	Madonna (Mich.)	29-5	204
20	7	College of Idaho	37-13	202
21	22	Campbellsville (Ky.)	35-14	181
22	13	Texas A&M Texarkana	37-11	166
23	21	Tennessee Wesleyan	34-7	164
24	24	Embry-Riddle (Ariz.)	37-3	144
25	23	Saint Xavier (Ill.)	32-6	142

Dropped from the Top 25: Aquinas (Mich.)

Others Receiving Votes: Ottawa (Kan.) 90, William Jessup (Calif.) 73, Midland (Neb.) 53, Bellevue (Neb.) 25, Vanguard (Calif.) 21, Mount Mercy (Iowa) 20, Rio Grande (Ohio) 19, Cumberlands (Ky.) 16, Mount Vernon Nazarene (Ohio) 14, Bryan (Tenn.) 8, Webber International (Fla.) 7, Cottey (Mo.) 5, Oklahoma Panhandle State 5.

Christopher Newport (35-1) is once again the unanimous No. 1 in this week’s NFCA Division III Top 25 Coaches Poll. The Captains head into the Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference tournament as the top seed later this week.

Rank	Team	Points	2022 Record	Previous
1	Christopher Newport (10)	250	35-1	1
2	Salisbury	240	34-4	2
3	Texas Lutheran	230	38-4	3
4	Eastern Connecticut State	220	34-4	4
5	Belhaven	210	34-5	5
6	DePauw	200	31-7	6
7	Linfield	190	36-7	7
8	East Texas Baptist	180	30-8	8
9	Mary Hardin-Baylor	170	31-9	10
10	Berry	160	29-11	12
11	Virginia Wesleyan	150	33-11	14
12	Bethel	140	30-3	11
13	Birmingham-Southern	130	32-8	9
14	Randolph-Macon	120	32-9	13
15	Roanoke	110	30-12	17
16	Piedmont	100	29-9	20
17	Babson	90	34-6	18
18	Wisconsin-Oshkosh	80	24-8	19
19	Rowan	70	30-8	21
20	Concordia (Wis.)	60	32-4	15
21	Geneseo	50	30-4	22
22	Millikin	40	31-5	23
23	Trine	15	24-11	NR
24	Susquehanna	13	25-7	RV
T25	Amherst	8	21-7	NR
T25	Case Western Reserve	8	26-9	RV

Others receiving votes:  Wisconsin-La Crosse 5, Ohio Northern 3, Tufts 3, Dubuque 2, Buena Vista 1, Kean 1,  and Rochester 1.

Dropped out: Alma, Aurora, Lynchburg, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Mount St. Joseph, Pfeiffer, Saint Benedict (Minn.) and Wartburg.

UT Tyler (40-4) has kept hold of the No. 1 spot in this week’s NFCA Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll. The Patriots are fresh off securing their second straight Lone Star Conference regular-season championship.

Rank	School	Points	2022 Record	Prev. Ranking
1	UT Tyler (16)	400	40-4	1
2	Texas A&M-Kingsville	377	43-8	3
3	Indianapolis	364	45-7	2
4	Auburn Montgomery	352	38-8	5
5	Central Oklahoma	343	44-8	4
6	Rogers State	309	43-9	6
7	Angelo State	302	38-9	7
8	Tampa	282	33-10	9
9	Cal State San Marcos	271	39-9	8
10	Valdosta State	260	33-9	10
11	Augustana	238	42-7	12
12	Concordia Irvine	229	43-8	11
13	Lubbock Christian	214	37-9	13
14	Minnesota State	189	42-10	16
15	Southern Indiana	170	40-10	17
16	Anderson	152	38-8	14
17	North Georgia	125	40-15	19
18	Texas A&M-Commerce	120	39-13	20
19	Oklahoma Christian	103	38-12	15
20	West Florida	100	30-13	18
21	Grand Valley State	91	38-5	21
22	Adelphi	66	39-11	25
23	Washburn	42	42-11	RV
24	Kutztown	35	33-13	22
25	Lenoir-Rhyne	28	37-14	23

New to Poll: No. 23 Washburn

Dropped Out:  No. 24 Chico State

Receiving Votes: Chico State (15), Embry-Riddle (7), St. Mary’s (8), Colorado Mesa (4), Rollins (3), Nova Southeastern (2), Lincoln Memorial (1).

RTS has confirmed that Texas Woman’s University is parting ways with head coach Amber Barker. Barker just completed her fourth season, leading the Pioneers to a 12-33 record. During her tenure she compiled a 36-104 overall tally.

The Big 12 Regular-Season Champion Oklahoma (45-1) remains the unanimous No. 1 in this week’s USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Coaches Poll. The Top 5 saw one change however, as Arkansas (39-8) joined in at No. 5.

Rank	School (First Place Votes)	Points	2022 Record	Prev. Ranking
1	Oklahoma (32)	800	45-1	1
2	Virginia Tech	763	39-6	2
3	Florida State	730	45-5	4
4	UCLA	698	39-6	3
5	Arkansas	669	39-8	7
6	Alabama	616	39-9	5
7	Oklahoma State	609	38-9	6
8	Northwestern	594	38-7	8
9	Washington	536	32-11	10
10	Florida	526	38-13	9
11	Duke	450	36-7	12
12	Arizona State	431	35-7	14
13	Kentucky	419	33-15	11
14	Tennessee	407	35-14	13
15	Auburn	337	39-11	16
16	Georgia	308	39-13	15
17	Texas	294	35-15-1	17
18	Clemson	291	37-14	18
19	LSU	210	32-19	19
20	Notre Dame	184	36-9	20
21	UCF	174	42-11	21
22	Oregon	132	29-16	22
23	Michigan	55	31-15	23
24	Missouri	54	31-17	RV
25	Arizona	46	31-16	25

New to Poll: No. 24 Missouri 

Dropped Out: No. 24 Stanford 

Receiving Votes: Stanford (41), Louisiana (15), Nebraska (6), San Diego State (5).

Yale has announced that they have parted ways with head coach Jen Goodwin. Goodwin was hired to lead the program in 2012. She compiled an overall record of 106-242-1. This Bulldogs went 11-23 in the 2022 season

James Madison announced today that they have canceled the remaining four games of their 2022 season following the tragic passing of sophomore catcher Lauren Bernett. The cancellations include games against Virginia and Elon. Contests against Longwood and Delaware had already been canceled last week. The Dukes finish the season 21-21 and 10-5 in CAA play.

Florida Head Coach Tim Walton achieved his 1,000th career coaching victory on Sunday in a 2-1 win over LSU. Walton has coached the Gators for 17 seasons winning two National Championships in his tenure. He has a combined record of 1,000-259 in 20 years as a head coach including three seasons heading the program at Wichita State.

Following-up on earlier breaking news of Texas Tech making a coaching change to their program; RTS has learned that the team at Tech was told in a team meeting called earlier today the change was made due to the “lack of improvement” by the program under its current leadership. Head Coach Sami Ward and her staff had been in Lubbock for less than two seasons and had a record 43-52, including 8-28 in Big 12 play. Ward had three years remaining on her five-year contract. Sources have indicated to RTS that the contract will be paid out.

In a very surprising and unexpected move, Texas Tech has announced a change in leadership. Director of Athletics Kirby Hocutt announced Sunday that head coach Sami Ward and her coaching staff have been relieved of their duties, effective immediately. Ward was in her second season leading the Red Raiders after serving as head coach at Loyola Marymount. Tech is 22-26 this season and 5-13 in Big 12 Conference play. Director of Operations Brooke Reed has been appointed interim head coach for the remainder of the season.