D 3 softball

WLCALUM83 · April 11, 2023, 04:14:04 PM

4-11-23 Weekly Honors:

https://nfca.org/divnews/ncaa3/division-iii-player-pitcher-of-the-week-4-11-23

WLCALUM83 · April 13, 2023, 10:28:15 AM

Alverno broke a long slump;

https://athletics.alverno.edu/news/2023/4/12/softball-snaps-losing-streak-with-a-10-9-game-two-victory-over-lakeland-university...

WLCALUM83 · April 15, 2023, 03:04:44 PM

4/15/23 Game 1 Final

BSC 11, Centre 6 (BSC will finish no worse than second in the SAA standings). BSC could still tie Berry, but Berry owns the tiebreaker, having swept BSC earlier in the season.)

WLCALUM83 · April 18, 2023, 03:15:47 PM

4-18-23 NFCA D3 Weekly Honors:

https://nfca.org/divnews/ncaa3/division-iii-player-pitcher-of-the-week-4-18-23

deiscanton · April 21, 2023, 10:32:01 AM

As early as the conclusion of UAA play in softball today, the first team officially in this year's NCAA DIII Softball Tournament will be determined. It will officially be determined no later than the conclusion of tomorrow's UAA play in softball due to weather considerations accelerating completion of the softball action this weekend in Waltham, MA and Staten Island, NY. Doubleheaders will be played today and tomorrow afternoon at both sites, with Sunday games moved up to today due to rain in the forecast for Saturday night and Sunday.

This year, the University Athletic Association has its first ever AQ in softball thanks to changes passed by DIII at the January 2022 convention that allow associations/conferences with a minimum of 6 teams participating in association/conference play in the team sport to be eligible for automatic bids.

In softball, the UAA has 6 teams in its association that compete against each other in Association play in softball-- Brandeis, Carnegie Mellon, CWRU, Emory, NYU and Wash U.

Rochester is a member of the Liberty League in softball, while UChicago is a Pool B DIII independent in that sport.

This weekend is the final weekend of Association play in softball, with Emory having started play vs Carnegie Mellon yesterday. Other matchups today and tomorrow have CWRU at NYU, and Wash U at Brandeis.

CWRU, the #7 ranked team in the NFCA poll, entered UAA play earlier this season on a program record 14 game winning streak to start the season. In the first weekend of UAA play, CWRU went 1-2 in Atlanta vs Emory (the 4th game of the series was washed out by rain), but has won 12 games in a row since then (8 home games in Cleveland vs Wash U and Brandeis, and 4 away games at Carnegie Mellon.)

The UAA gives its AQ in softball to the team with the best w/l pct in Association play at the conclusion of the Association schedule, provided that the team in question has played at least 10 games in UAA play.

Enterting today, CWRU is 13-2 in UAA play in softball with a w/l pct of .864 in UAA play. CWRU can finish as high as 17-2 (.895), and no worse than 13-6 (.684 in UAA play.)

Brandeis is the only other team that can mathematically get the UAA AQ, but Brandeis must win out vs Wash U with a 4-0 mark, while NYU sweeps CWRU. If that scenario happens, Brandeis would finish with a 14-6 mark (.700) in UAA play and clinch the AQ over CWRU's 13-6 mark (.684 w/l pct.) Brandeis can finish as low as 10-10 in UAA play if Wash U sweeps at Brandeis today and tomorrow.

In case weather prevents completion of UAA softball action in Waltham and Staten Island this weekend, CWRU will clinch the AQ due to best w/l pct coming into the weekend.

CWRU only needs 1 win vs NYU or 1 Wash U win vs Brandeis to clinch the AQ to the NCAA DIII Softball Tournament.

deiscanton · April 21, 2023, 04:06:50 PM

UAA Softball update--

Game #1 of 2 is in the books in Waltham, MA-- Final: Brandeis 3, Wash U 1.

First win for Brandeis softball in a game vs Wash U since 2014-- First win for Brandeis softball vs Wash U since UAA softball went from a beginning of season conference tournament in Altamonte Springs, Florida (the Florida UAA softball tournament was last played in the 2015-16 season) to the current single round robin system where UAA baseball and softball teams played on the UAA campuses (that started in the 2016-17 season).

Since the current round robin system in softball started in the 2016-17 season, Brandeis went 0-8 in games played at Wash U (years 2017 and 2022-- all 4 games in St. Louis were rained out in the spring of 2019). Brandeis had gone 0-4 in games vs Wash U played in Waltham, MA until today (the 0-4 happened in 2018). The 2020 season was cut short due to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March which cancelled out the rest of the spring season, and the UAA did not have Association play in 2021 due to the pandemic as well.

Brandeis improves to 19-9 overall, 11-6 in UAA play. Wash U falls to 17-16 overall, 9-8 in UAA play.

Brandeis and Wash U will play a second game today at 4:30 PM Eastern due to a forecast of rain for Sunday.

Update at Staten Island, NY-- CWRU 2, NYU 0 after 3 1/2 innings in Game #1 of 2 scheduled for today. First game started at 3 PM Eastern. If scoreline holds in this game, CWRU will clinch the 2022-23 UAA Softball Championship and the first automatic bid for the UAA to the NCAA DIII Softball Tournament.

deiscanton · April 21, 2023, 05:27:18 PM

Final in Game #1 from Staten Island, NY--

CWRU 5, NYU 0

Congratulations to Case Western Reserve University-- 2022-23 UAA Softball Champions-- First team officially in the NCAA DIII Softball Tournament Field via the Automatic Pool A bid-- first time in UAA history that UAA Softball has an automatic bid to the NCAA DIII Softball Tournament.

CWRU now has a current winning streak of 13 softball games in a row and can tie their program record of 14 wins in a row set earlier this season with a victory over NYU in Game #2 coming up.

CWRU improves to 28-2 overall, 14-2 in the UAA. (W/l pct in UAA play of .875 currently-- Can do no worse than a 14-5 w/l record and a w/l .737 in UAA play this season-- therefore, the Spartans have clinched best w/l percentage in UAA play this season with a minimum of 10 UAA softball games played. Brandeis can finish no better than 14-6 in UAA play with a w/l pct of .700-- therefore, Brandeis is eliminated from UAA title contention.)

NYU drops to 17-16 overall, 6-11 in the UAA.

deiscanton · April 21, 2023, 06:05:49 PM

Final score-- Game #2 from Waltham, MA

Wash U 9, Brandeis 0 (6 innings)-- Wash U and Brandeis split the first 2 games of their 4 game weekend series.

Wash U improves to 18-16 overall, 10-8 in the UAA. The Bears can finish the season in second place in the UAA Softball standings with a 2 game sweep over Brandeis tomorrow.

Brandeis drops to 19-10 overall, 11-7 in the UAA. Brandeis can finish no better than 13-7 in the UAA this season (w/l pct of .650). Brandeis can finish in second place in the UAA standings tomorrow with a win over Wash U in the final 2 games of their weekend series. The worst the Judges can finish is third place in the UAA standings, as both NYU and Emory can finish no better than 9-11 in the UAA this season.

WLCALUM83 · April 22, 2023, 01:28:08 PM

SAA Conference Tournament Pairings are Set:

https://saa-sports.com/news/2023/4/19/saa-softball-tournament-set-berry-and-bsc-host-pods.aspx

Underdog squad to watch--Centre (picked 6th in pre-season poll; finished 3rd)

deiscanton · April 23, 2023, 02:16:34 PM

2023 UAA season is now officially in the books, as Emory and Carnegie Mellon completed their 4 game weekend series today with a single Sunday game in Pittsburgh, PA.

Final score was Emory 18, Carnegie Mellon 7 in 5 innings. This is the final game of the regular softball season for both teams.

Emory finishes their season in 4th place in the UAA at 8-11 in UAA play, 18-20 overall.

Carnegie Mellon finishes their season in last place in the UAA at 5-15 in UAA play, 15-23 overall.

Heading into the final weeks before the NCAA DIII Softball Tournament field is officially announced on May 15--

CWRU ended the UAA season officially having clinched the first ever UAA AQ to the DIII Softball Tournament, and their second consecutive UAA title for the Spartans.

CWRU finished at 17-2 in UAA play, and is currently at 31-2 overall with 6 scheduled non-league games remaining. The 17 wins in UAA play is a season record since the UAA changed in 2017 from having their champion determined by an Association tournament in Florida at the beginning of the softball season to having their champion determined by 5 weekends of single round-robin site play at the participating UAA campuses.

CWRU will prepare over the next few weekends for the NCAA DIII Softball tournament by playing a doubleheader at Mount Union next Sunday, April 30, followed by a home doubleheader at Mather Field in Cleveland vs College of Wooster on Saturday, May 6, and then an away doubleheader at U.Chicago on Saturday, May 13. The CWRU Spartans are currently on an active program record 16 game winning streak-- breaking their previous record of 14 straight wins set earlier this season.

Brandeis finished in 2nd place in the UAA at 13-7, and is currently at 21-10 overall with 8 scheduled non-league games remaining, plus a halted game at Tufts to be determined. The Judges also have to negotiate with Tufts on whether or not Brandeis will head back to Spicer Field in Medford, MA to play the 6th and 7th innings of the second game of a doubleheader from April 5 that was halted due to darkness. When play was halted back on April 5, both teams agreed prior to the Brandeis/Tufts doubleheader's start that they would attempt to resume a game later in the season if play could not be completed. A date and time for the resumption of the second Brandeis at Tufts game is still to be determined.

Tufts was leading over Brandeis, 5-0, after 5 complete innings when darkness fell, so if the two teams cannot agree on a date and time to resume the game, it would go into the final books as an 11th loss for Brandeis, as more than 4 1/2 innings of the game had been played.

Brandeis has 4 scheduled home doubleheaders remaining-- Wed. April 26 vs WPI, Thursday April 27 vs Lesley, Sunday April 30 vs Suffolk, and Tuesday May 2 vs UMass-Dartmouth. Brandeis is still in contention for 1 of the 18 Pool C bids, but needs to win at least 7 of the 8 games remaining to finish with an overall winning pct above .700.

Wash U finished in third place in the UAA at 10-10 in UAA play, and is currently at .500 at 18-18 overall with 4 non-league games remaining. The Bears will host a doubleheader vs Webster on Thursday, April 27, and then will host a doubleheader vs UChicago on Saturday, April 29 to conclude their season.

NYU finished in fifth place in the UAA at 6-14 in UAA play, and is currently at 17-19 overall with 4 non-league games remaining. The Violets are scheduled to travel to Eastern Connecticut State for a doubleheader next Sunday, April 30, and will then host a doubleheader at Staten Island vs Hunter on Tuesday, May 2 to conclude the season.

Update-- Tuesday, April 25, 2023-- Although Tufts has not yet updated their schedule to reflect this development from late yesterday, the second game from April 5, 2023 between Brandeis and Tufts, which was halted due to darkness after 5 innings with host team Tufts leading 5-0, will resume at 4 PM Eastern this Friday, April 28, at Tufts with Brandeis batting in the top of the 6th inning.

With this development from late Monday, should the Judges finish with a record of 29-11 at the end of play on May 2 vs UMass-Dartmouth (Going 8-0 in their remaining home contests and sustaining a loss at Tufts this Friday), they should be in good contention to be considered for one of the 18 Pool C at large bids with a final w/l pct. of .725 and a very decent SOS in the .560 range.

Eastern Connecticut State has confirmed their home doubleheader vs NYU for Sunday, April 30, at Clyde Washburne Field in Mansfield, CT.

WLCALUM83 · April 23, 2023, 07:08:39 PM

It was a Linfield/George Fox final game and Linfield put up a 4-spot in the 6th inning to win the game going away, 8-0!

Linfield has the NWC AQ!

WLCALUM83 · April 25, 2023, 03:49:20 PM

4/25/23 Weekly Honors now up:

https://nfca.org/divnews/ncaa3/division-iii-player-pitcher-of-the-week-4-25-23

WLCALUM83 · April 26, 2023, 10:08:29 AM

Collegiate Conference of the South Tournament Format is set:

https://collegiateconferenceofthesouth.com/tournaments/?id=13&path=SB

This is one of those conference tourneys with several teams that appeared in the Top 25 at some point in the regular season--figures to be a real dogfight.

Overall team stat comparison:

Batting: Pitching: Fielding:

Huntingdon (.390) 2.79 ERA .976
Belhaven (.330)
(21 HRs) 1.51 ERA .965
Piedmont (.314) 2.70 ERA .961

It'll be interesting to see another Piedmont/Belhaven match-up. (Blazers' Carruth beat Piedmont's McBrayer during the regular season.) However, Carruth took a loss against Huntingdon also. Maryville-TN could unexpectedly shake things up as well here.

WLCALUM83 · April 28, 2023, 05:34:34 PM

Collegiate Conference of the South:
Belhaven pod: As expected, it'll be the #1 Blazers vs. #4 Piedmont, with the Lions needing 2 wins to
advance.

Huntingdon pod: Host squad will play Agnes Scott yet, winner must beat Maryville-TN twice to take the pod.
UPDATE: Huntingdon knocked off Agnes Scott 11-2, so the ARV squad gets Maryville tomorrow.
.
SAA:
#6 Rhodes upset #3 Centre in the BSC pod. Centre gets Hendrix in an elimination game tomorrow.

No upsets yet in the Berry pod.
Speaking of the Vikings, pitchers Hall and Hollis combined to toss a 5-inning no-hitter vs. Millsaps, 14-0.
Majors get Sewanee in an elimination game.

WLCALUM83 · April 29, 2023, 12:53:38 PM

CCS 4/29 action:
Final: Belhaven 10, Piedmont 2 (Blazers take their own pod, await Maryville-TN/Huntingdon winner)

Huntingdon pod: Game 1 about to get underway.
UPDATE: Final: Maryville-TN 4, Huntingdon 2.
It'll be a Belhaven/Maryvlle-TN battle for the CSS AQ next week.
(Huntingdon had the bases loaded with 2 out in the 7th, but couldn't cash in.)

SAA: BSC/Rhodes in pre-game yet. Millsaps and Sewanee in a tight one (Majors up 1-0 in 5th).