Valdosta State Near Unanimous No. 1 in This Week’s 2015 NFCA Division II Poll

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Receiving 15 first-place votes, Valdosta State was nearly unanimous as it ran its hold on the No. 1 spot to six weeks in the NFCA Division II Poll, announced by the Association on Wednesday.

 

The Blazers (46-5) wrapped up their regular season taking two of three from Mississippi College (1-0 / 1-5 / 1-0). VSU, which claimed the Gulf South regular season title, is hosting the 2015 Gulf South Tournament Championship, April 30-May 2 at Steels Diamond in Valdosta, Ga. Also competing in the tournament will be No. 11 Alabama-Huntsville, No. 16 North Alabama and RV Shorter.

Sliding up to No. 2 this week is Missouri-St. Louis, which received the other first-place vote and 374 points. It is the highest ranking for the Tritons (39-5) this season following a Great Lakes Valley (GLVC) split with Bellarmine (4-1 / 3-8 in 8 inn.) last week. UMSL claimed the top seed for the GLVC Championship Tournament, which is being held May 1-3 at the EastSide Centre in East Peoria, Ill. for the 11th straight year. No. 10 Indianapolis and No. 13 Southern Indiana are the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds, respectively.

Following a 3-3 week, West Texas A&M dropped to No. 3 and is not ranked No. 1 or No. 2 since the 2014 Preseason Top 25 Poll. The Lady Buffs (42-9) opened the week with a non-conference sweep of UT Permian Basin (9-0 / 10-1), but fell at home in their final Lone Star series to Texas Woman’s (10-13 / 9-5 / 2-4/ 10-11). WT is hosting the 2015 LSC Championship on May 1 and 2, which also features No. 22 Angelo State and RV Cameron.

Dixie State and Cal State Monterey Bay round out the top 5. The Red Storm (42-7) swept Azuza Pacific in their final PacWest series, while the Otters (44-10) took three-of-four from No. 15 Humboldt State to earn the CCAA regular season title. Dixie State claimed the PacWest regular season championship, its first outright title in program history, and the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

CSUMB captured its second straight Conference regular season title and will be the No. 1 seed at the four-team CCAA post-season tournament, May 1-3 at Arnaiz Stadium in Stockton, Calif.

The sixth-ranked North Georgia NightHawks (44-7) defeated No. 8 Georgia College (42-9) in the Peach Belt Conference Championship to earn its conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. UNG was a perfect 3-0 in the single-elimination tournament.

No. 7 St. Mary’s (40-8) swept St. Edward’s (1-0 / 10-4 / 4-2) in its final Heartland regular season series to earn a share of the league’s regular season crown and host the 2015 Heatland  Conference Championship Tournament, April 30-May 2.

Moving back into the top-10 is Northern Sun regular season champion Augustana. The Vikings (47-7) will be the top seed at their 10-team tournament being held at Sherman Park in Sioux Falls, S.D. The field also includes No. 14 Winona State.

No. 23 Central Missouri and No. 25 West Chester make an appearance in the poll this week, while Emporia State and Adelphi drop out.

The NFCA Division II Top 25 Poll is voted on by 16 NCAA Division II head coaches with two representing each of the eight NCAA regions. 2015 records and previous week’s rankings are shown with first-place votes in parentheses.

NFCA Division II Softball Poll – April 29, 2015(Games Played April 20-26)

Rank

Team

2015 Record

Totals

Prev. Rank

1

Valdosta State (15)

46-5

397

1

2

Missouri-St. Louis (1)

39-5

374

3

3

West Texas A&M

42-9

364

2

4

Dixie State

42-7

360

4

5

Cal State Monterey Bay

44-10

334

5

6

North Georgia

44-7

323

6

7

St. Mary’s (TX)

40-8

304

7

8

Georgia College

42-9

271

8

9

Augustana (S.D.)

47-7

268

11

10

Indianapolis

38-10

265

9

11

Alabama-Huntsville

37-12

238

10

12

California Baptist

40-9

214

16

13

Southern Indiana

36-6

196

15

14

Winona State

42-12

165

17

15

Humboldt State

39-15

152

12

16

North Alabama

32-10

146

14

17

Caldwell

29-11-1

145

18

18

Metro State

38-12

142

19

19

West Virginia Wesleyan

32-6

97

22

20

Ashland

36-6

83

21

21

Southern New Hampshire

29-6

75

24

22

Angelo State

33-14-1

68

13

23

Central Missouri

39-13

37

RV

24

Anderson

39-13

36

23

25

West Chester

38-12

31

RV

Dropped Out: No. 20 Emporia State, No. 25 Adelphi

New to Poll: No. 23 Central Missouri, No. 25 West Chester

 

Others Receiving Votes: Cameron (23), Emporia State (22), California Pa. (19), Sonoma State (16), Rollins (9), Adelphi (8), Armstrong State (8), Shorter (5), Catawba (2).