D 3 softball

[WLCALUM83]

Kudos to Rivier on breaking into the NFCA Top 25 Poll!

4/28 D3 Softball Regional Rankings are up:

http://www.ncaas.com/sports/w-softbl/spec-rel/042810aab.html

Thoughts?

[WLCALUM83]

Edgewood and Marian are in a fight for the last playoff spot in the Northern Athletics Conference. Edgewood swept Alverno, but the 1st game lasted 15 innings before the Eagles plated 2 runs to end it. (During one stretch, one unidentified Edgewood player had 2 of her fans kiss her bat for good luck during a half-inning break-is that being desperate for timely hitting or what?)

Marian gets Alverno on the road today
Edgewood plays Rockford. 

[AUPepBand]

Saxons (30-4, 11-1) have a doubleheader today, hosting St. John Fisher (24-14, 8-4) in a make-up. A Saxon sweep would give AU a 13-1 Empire 8 mark and result in a coin toss with Ithaca for right to host the E8 tournament...somewhat ironic in that AU, in lacking a NCAA-approved softball field, plays its home games at Hornell. AU has already locked up the #2 seed in the tourney.

Fisher, which has nailed down the #3 seed in the tourney, will be a tough test for AU, which is riding a 17-game win streak.

On Saxon Warriors!

[WLCALUM83]

Edgewood and Marian are in a fight for the last playoff spot in the Northern Athletics Conference. Edgewood swept Alverno, but the 1st game lasted 15 innings before the Eagles plated 2 runs to end it. (During one stretch, one unidentified Edgewood player had 2 of her fans kiss her bat for good luck during a half-inning break-is that being desperate for timely hitting or what?)

Marian gets Alverno on the road today
Edgewood plays Rockford. 

Marian swept the pesky Alverno squad--have yet to see Edgewood/Rockford results

[AUPepBand]

Alfred University, for the first time in its coeducational existence that goes back to 1836, captured a share of the Empire 8 Conference championship with a doubleheader sweep of St. John Fisher Sunday in Hornell, 1-0 and 2-1.

The Saxons, who won an 8 p.m. coin toss Sunday night, May 2, are thus the #1 seed and will HOST the Empire 8 Championships Friday and Saturday, May 7-8 at the Alfred State College Softball Complex across the street.

With the sweep of Fisher, who will be the #3 seed, the Saxons will face RIT in its opening game on Friday. Meanwhile, #2 seed Ithaca will play #3 seed Fisher. The complete E8 schedule is as follows:

http://saxons.alfred.edu/pressreleases/viewrelease.cfm?ID=6125

On Saxon Warriors!

[WLCALUM83]

Edgewood and Marian are in a fight for the last playoff spot in the Northern Athletics Conference. Edgewood swept Alverno, but the 1st game lasted 15 innings before the Eagles plated 2 runs to end it. (During one stretch, one unidentified Edgewood player had 2 of her fans kiss her bat for good luck during a half-inning break-is that being desperate for timely hitting or what?)

Marian gets Alverno on the road today
Edgewood plays Rockford. 

Marian swept the pesky Alverno squad--have yet to see Edgewood/Rockford results

Edgewood splits with Rockford on the road-and --for the 2nd year in a row, misses out on the NAthCon playoffs on tie-breakers.

[deiscanton]

Hello, this is my first time posting on the softball forum-- however, I feel that it is time for me to start posting about softball.

As you probably know, I primarily follow basketball, but since Brandeis is about a week away from going to their first ever NCAA softball tournament (I expect Brandeis to get in on a Pool B selection), I feel that it is time to reflect on Brandeis's season so far.

Brandeis came into the week ranked #18 in DIII softball by the NFCA and #2 in the New England regional rankings.  

This season, I attended the Brandeis home doubleheader v Wellesley on March 17  (I attended Game 1, but not Game 2), the Brandeis game v Eastern Connecticut, the road doubleheader at RI College, the home doubleheader v Emerson, and the Senior Day home doubleheader v Framingham State.

First of all, out of all the opposing pitchers that I have seen this season, I respect Molly Rathbun of Eastern Connecticut-- I believe that she is the best pitcher in New England DIII softball.  It is possible to beat her in a game, but Rathbun makes Eastern Connecticut very difficult to beat.  

The victories by Brandeis this week in Providence, RI over RI College were huge for the Judges-- RI College has historically been the power in New England DIII softball, but the Anchorwomen are now suffering their worst losing streak in 5 years-- RI College is going into the Little East tournament on a 6 game losing streak.

Brandeis went 4-0 in region vs regionally ranked opposition this week with the 2 doubleheader sweeps over RI College (#7 in New England) and Emerson (#5 in Northeast-- in region under 200 mile rule).  Both Brandeis wins over Emerson were games where the 8 run rule shortened the game.   (The games ended in 6 innings and 5 innings respectively.)

Yesterday, Brandeis had to settle for a 1-1 split against Framingham State.  Brandeis won the first game, 9-1 in 6 innings, but lost the second game, 4-1, to finish 26-7-1 in region for the season.  

This season, Brandeis swept Wash U (currently ranked #9 by the NFCA-- #1 in Midwest-- UAA conference), split with Rochester (#7 in Northeast-- UAA conference), split with Wellesley (#6 New England), split with Bowdoin (#5 New England), lost a game to Eastern Connecticut (#1 New England), swept RI College (#7 New England), and swept Emerson (#5 Northeast -- in region under 200 mile rule) to finish with an in-region record of 9-4 vs regionally ranked opponents.

I look forward to the upcoming NCAA softball tournament, and I am rooting for Brandeis to do well in it.

My favorites for the 3 Pool B picks for the NCAA tournament:  Wash U, Brandeis, Union.

[deiscanton]

New England teams already in the NCAA tournament as Pool A automatic qualifiers as of May 1, 2010

New England Region

TCCC-- Endicott
NEWMAC-- Coast Guard
North Atlantic Conference-- Husson

Northeast Region

GNAC-- Rivier


The Little East, MASCAC, and NESCAC will play their conference tournaments this weekend.

[sitem_down]

The ASC is such a strong softball conference it could have 5-6 tournament quality teams but sadly only 3 will probably make it. The East side is even more crazy, Mississippi College who has been ranked during the year didn't even make the conference tourny.

[deiscanton]

NFCA Top 25 just released for week 11

New #1 is Louisiana College, by virtue of defeating Texas-Tyler to capture the American Southwest Conference Championship and the ASC Pool A automatic bid to the NCAAs over the weekend.

Texas-Tyler falls to #2 in the national rankings.

Fellow American Southwest Conf team East Texas Baptist is #10 in this week's national poll.

On the New England front, Eastern Connecticut is tied with Christopher Newport at #11 in this week's national rankings, while Brandeis moves up 1 spot from #18 to #17 in this week's national poll.

Rivier drops out of the top 25 due to losing 2 games against Tufts last week.

Wash U-- St Louis drops from #9 to #18 in this week's poll thanks to losses vs NCAA DII Missouri-St Louis and cross-street rival Fontbonne of the SLIAC last week.  Wash U plays a doubleheader vs 13th ranked DePauw on Saturday.

Alfred breaks into the top 25-- debuting at #25 in this week's national poll.

[deiscanton]

Nationally, here are the teams already in the upcoming NCAA softball tournament by virtue of Pool A bids:

Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference--  Frostburg State

American Southwest-- Louisiana College

Capital Athletic Conference-- Salisbury

Centennial Conference-- Dickinson

CCIW-- Illinois Wesleyan

Colonial States Athletic Conference-- Neumann

Commonwealth Conference-- Messiah

The Commonwealth Coast Conference-- Endicott

CUNYAC-- Baruch

Empire 8-- Ithaca

Freedom Conference-- King's

Great Northeast Athletic Conference-- Rivier

Great South Athletic Conference-- Piedmont

Heartland Conference-- Transylvania

Iowa IAC-- Luther

Landmark-- Moravian

Little East--  Eastern Connecticut

MASCAC-- Salem State

MIAA-- Trine

Midwest Conference-- St. Norbert

Minnesota IAC-- St Thomas (MN)

NESCAC-- Wesleyan

New England Men's and Women's (NEWMAC)-- Coast Guard

NJAC-- Kean

North Atlantic Conference-- Husson

NAthCon-- Aurora

North Coast Athletic Conference-- Denison

NEAC-- Keuka

Northwest Conference-- Linfield

Ohio Athletic Conference-- Ohio Northern

Old Dominion Athletic Conference-- Eastern Mennonite

Presidents-- Thomas More

Skyline-- NYU-Poly (formerly known as Polytechnic)

Southern California IAC-- La Verne

SCAC-- Southwestern (Texas)

SLIAC-- Fontbonne

SUNYAC-- Cortland State  (clinched 5/8 at approx 3:15 PM Eastern).

USA South-- Greensboro

WIAC-- UW-La Crosse (Final Pool A bid clinched 5/9 at 5:54 PM Eastern)

(Note-- on Monday, I had to modify my post to make a correction-- even though John Carroll did win the OAC tournament,  the OAC awarded their Pool A bid to Ohio Northern on the basis that "Ohio Northern did win the regular season title and did make it to the title game of the OAC tourney"-- that, IMO, is a bogus result-- were the OAC officials scared that Ohio Northern would not get in as a Pool C-- the OAC would have gotten 2 teams in if John Carroll was awarded the Pool A-- the OAC should change its rule.)

All Conference tournaments completed-- All 39 Pool A bids secured.

[deiscanton]

05/05 D3 Softball Regional rankings are up:

http://www.ncaa.com/sports/w-softbl/spec-rel/050510aab.html

Pool B picture as of 5/5 listed rankings

Brandeis is at #2 in New England

Brandeis:  26-7-1  (.779 in region pct)   SOS  .589   9-4-0 in region vs reg ranked opponents  (.692)

Wash U in St Louis is at #1 in the Midwest

Wash U:  21-6-0  (.778 in region pct)  SOS  .561  9-4-0 in region vs reg ranked opponents  (.692)

Union (NY) is at #5 in the Northeast

Union:  21-6-0  (.778 in region pct)  SOS  .520   3-0-0 in region vs reg ranked opponents  (1.000)

Chicago is at #8 in Great Lakes

(according to the NCAA)

Chicago  18-9-1  (.661 in region pct)   SOS  .544  4-2-0 (?) vs reg ranked opponents  (.667)

(It doesn't sound right-- Chicago went 2-4 last week vs reg ranked opponents according to what I saw of the Maroons schedule-- Chicago played the top 3 teams in their region last week.)

However, I don't think that it will ultimately matter.

My Pool B picks from these rankings (in order) are: 

1.)  Brandeis
2.)  Wash U  (Brandeis head to head sweep over Wash U in March gives 'Deis the edge for the first Pool B pick.)
3.)   Union (NY)   (Secondary criteria Chicago win over Union does not help Chicago in this instance with the regional winning pcts so far apart on primary criteria.)

[oldNorse]

Four teams from the Iowa Conference are in the top eight of their region.

Luther #2
Simpson #3
Central #4
Coe #7

Conference tournament begins tomorrow.

[deiscanton]

Day 1-- Thursday, May 6, 2010

Little East Conference tournament  (double elimination)  from Keene, NH

Follow the action live on http://www.littleeast.tv  throughout the day

Game 1-- Final    Eastern Conn State  3    Plymouth State 0

E. Conn's #19 Molly Rathbun pitched a 1 hit shutout-- struck out 13 of the 22 Plymouth State batters faced.

At the plate, Molly Rathbun went 3 of 3-- including a 2 run homer in the bottom of the 5th.

Eastern Connecticut advances to Friday's round vs loser of Game 3.

Game 2-- Final  Southern Maine 6, Keene State 2

Game 3  Final   Western Connecticut 4,   Rhode Island College 1

(Losing streak for RI College extended to 7 games-- RI College's NCAA appearance streak may be coming to an end-- Anchorwomen play Eastern Connecticut in Friday's first game.)

Game 4  Final  Keene State 17  Plymouth State 0   (5 inn)  (8 run rule)

(Plymouth State eliminated)

Day 2-- Friday, May 7, 2010

Game 5  Final   Eastern Connecticut 10  Rhode Island College 0  (5 inn)  (8 run rule)

Eastern Connecticut's Molly Rathbun pitches a no hitter-- 1 walk in the 3rd spoiled the perfect game attempt-- Rathbun struck out 10 of the 16 Rhode Island College Anchorwomen batters faced.

(Rhode Island College eliminated--  RI College's season ends on an 8 game losing streak-- RIC's dominance of the Little East also comes to an end.)

Game 6  Final   Western Connecticut 5,  S. Maine 2

Game 7  Final   Keene State 12  S. Maine 3

(Southern Maine eliminated)

Game 8  Final  Eastern Connecticut 10   Western Connecticut 5

(I have another post on the wildness of this softball game.)

Day 3-- Saturday, May 9, 2010  

Game 9--  Final   Keene State 8   Western Conn 2  

(Western Connecticut eliminated)

Day 4-- Sunday, May 10, 2010

Game 10-- Final  Eastern Connecticut 1   Keene State 0  (8 innings)  (Keene State eliminated-- Eastern Connecticut clinches the Little East automatic bid).

Molly Rathbun of Eastern Connecticut pitches a 5 hit shutout in 8 innings pitched, walks 1 Keene State batter, strikes out 12 Keene State batters.

Winning run scored by Molly Rathbun on a solo home run to center field in the bottom of the 8th with no one out.

Eastern Connecticut wins the Little East and is NCAA bound.

[ECSUalum]

deiscanton,

Welcome to the Softball thread, and thanks for all the info in NE Teams!!  +k