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Virginia Wesleyan continues as No. 1 in NFCA Division III Top 25 Poll

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Virginia Wesleyan won four more games last week to remain the unanimous No. 1 team in the NFCA Top 25 softball rankings.

The (37-1) Marlins swept road doubleheaders at Eastern Mennonite and Lynchburg to wrap up the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) regular-season title and secure the top seed for the upcoming ODAC Tournament.

The five teams below Virginia Wesleyan remained unchanged and unanimous, with Texas-Tyler (34-2), Berry (35-2), Luther (29-3), Rowan (29-3) and Trine (26-2) combining to go 14-0 last week.

No. 7 Moravian (28-2) and No. 8 Texas Lutheran (34-4) both leaped over Messiah (26-5), now ninth, while Coe (27-6) is tied with St. John Fisher (23-5) for the No. 10 spot.

Three teams — Cortland (21-7), Randolph-Macon (27-7) and William Paterson (20-8) are deadlocked for No. 18, while Kean (23-5) fell seven places to No. 21 and Linfield (32-8) slipped six to No. 22 after both lost twice.

Amherst (22-6), which is riding a 13-game win streak, joined the poll this week at No. 25, just behind Whitworth (32-8), who, like William Paterson, had been receiving votes.

The NFCA Division III Top 25 Poll is selected by eight NCAA Division III head coaches representing the eight NCAA regions. Current 2017 records are listed, with first-place votes in parentheses.

NFCA Division III Top 25 Poll – April 19, 2017

Rank Team 2017 Record Points Previous 1 Virginia Wesleyan (8) 37-1 200 1 2 Texas-Tyler 34-2 192 2 3 Berry 35-2 184 3 4 Luther 29-3 176 4 5 Rowan 29-3 168 5 6 Trine 26-2 160 6 7 Moravian 28-2 152 8 8 Texas Lutheran 34-4 135 10 9 Messiah 26-5 129 7 T10 Coe 27-6 121 11   St. John Fisher 23-5 121 9 12 Central (Iowa) 25-7 116 12 13 Wisconsin-Whitewater 22-6 103 15 14 East Texas Baptist 30-6 102 13 15 Wisconsin-Eau Claire 19-7 73 17 16 Texas-Dallas 29-8 69 18 17 Wisconsin-Oshkosh 20-6 56 21 T18 Cortland 21-7 48 22   Randolph-Macon 27-7 48 20   William Paterson 20-8 48 RV 21 Kean 23-5 45 14 22 Linfield 32-8 40 16 23 Wittenberg 22-4 29 23 24 Whitworth 32-8 20 RV 25 Amherst 22-6 18 NR

Others receiving votes: Christopher Newport 11, Saint Benedict (Minn.) 10, Otterbein 7, Springfield 7, Ithaca 5, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 5 and St. Thomas (Minn.) 2.

Dropped out: Alma, Aurora, Lynchburg, Rensselaer and Stevens Institute of Technology.

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