D 3 softball

[WLCALUM83]

In terms of toughest schedule to this point, in the CCS Piedmont and LaGrange have played the toughest ones and Berea has played the least tough schedule. 

[WLCALUM83]

Top 25-How They Fared 4/30-5/6/2024:

1. Salisbury      (0-2):  Losses to #7 CNU
2. Linfield        (2-0):  Sweep of Willamette
3. ETBU            (3-0):  All wins vs SRSU
4. Trine            (2-0):  Sweep of Albion
5. Berry            (2-1):  All vs BSC
6. Belhaven    (3-2):  W-La Grange, Huntingdon, Piedmont; 0-2 vs Maryville-TN     
7. CNU              (2-0):  Sweep of #1 Salisbury
8. Randolph-Macon    (2-2):  W-Averett, Guilford; 0-2 vs Roanoke
9. Huntingdon        (1-2):  W-Agnes Scott; L-Piedmont, #6 Belhaven
10. CWRU              (1-2):  W-#22 Mt. Union
11. VA Wesleyan    (3-0):  W-Shenandoah, 2-0 vs Lynchburg
12. TLU              (3-0):  W-Southwestern-TX, 2-0 vs Trinity-TX
13. Pfeiffer      (3-0):  W-Mary Baldwin, 2-0 vs Wm Peace
14. Rowan            (1-0):  W-TCNJ
15. RPI              (2-1):  Sweep of St. Lawrence; L-Williams
16. Tufts            (3-0):  W-Babson, Sweep of Bowdoin       
17. Bethel-MN        (3-1):  Sweep of St. Scholastica; 1-1 vs. St. Benedict-MN
18. Oshkosh          (4-0):  Sweeps of Platteville and Eau Claire
19. Stevens Point    (3-1):  Sweep of Stout; 1-1 vs RV Whitewater
20. Central-IA        (2-2):  Splits vs NE Wesleyan and Loras
21. Dominican-IL      (2-2):  Splits vs Rockford & Concordia-WI
22. Mt. Union        (1-2):  1-1 vs Muskingum; L-#10 CWRU
23. Ramapo            (1-2):  1-1 vs Centenary NJ; L-Kean
24. Calvin            (4-0):  Sweeps of Alma & Hope
25. Transylvania      (4-0):  Sweeps of Franklin & RHIT   

RV:
New Paltz State     (3-1):  Sweep of Brockport; 1-1 vs Geneseo
U of Rochester      (2-0):  Sweep of Union NY
Whitewater      (5-1):  Sweeps of River Falls & Carthage; 1-1 vs #19 Stevens Point         
St. John-Fisher     (2-0):  Sweep of Utica
Wash-MO           (0-0):  No games for above period.

[WLCALUM83]

5/7/2024 Top 25 Poll is now up:

https://nfca.org/divnews/ncaa3/diii-top-25-coaches-poll-5-7-24

[Gray Fox]

SCIAC All Conference:

https://thesciac.org/news/2024/5/8/womens-soccer-softball-all-conference-awards-redlands-gandara-clus-flinchum-voted-athletes-of-the-year.aspx

[justafan12]

I don't follow D3 softball like I use to but here are my selection observations:

St. Benedict gets an at-large bid with a 24-17 record
Collegiate Conference of the South has no automatic bid; gets 3 of the 19 at large bids
No at large picks from region 2
Huntingdon College is an at large pick ranked #5 in region 6 and they get to host
Have one regional that is best 3 of 5 (come on NCAA pick 2 more teams)

[Caz Bombers]

I don't follow D3 softball like I use to but here are my selection observations:

St. Benedict gets an at-large bid with a 24-17 record
Collegiate Conference of the South has no automatic bid; gets 3 of the 19 at large bids
No at large picks from region 2
Huntingdon College is an at large pick ranked #5 in region 6 and they get to host
Have one regional that is best 3 of 5 (come on NCAA pick 2 more teams)

We'll get 64 next year at least due to the adjusted access ratio.

[Riley Zayas]

I'll look forward to the expansion to 64. Most disappointing (though not surprising) for me was ETBU and TLU being put in the same pod. Would've loved to have seen one flight used to send TLU elsewhere...I mean, C'mon. You have 2 Top 10 teams in the same regional...no other regional has that. Unfair to both ETBU and TLU...they didn't deserve that after putting together outstanding seasons this year.

[phil]

ETBU has a great year and will have an opportunity to host all the way through to the World Series! TLU also had a great year, but also never travelled outside the state of Texas (though I understand they had a great trip to Italy). They also have not played a Top 20 team, and have only played one regionally ranked team (Trinity). They also dropped out of the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Georgia the day before their first game - because of an unfavorable weather forecast (some teams got 5 of 6 games in, and some got all their games in). ETBU beat three Top 10 teams at that tourney. It would have been nice if TLU participated because four of their five games would have been against NCAA tournament bound/nationally ranked teams including #7 CWRU and #10 Bellhaven. Given their schedule and dropping out of a tourney nearly every other team attended, I wouldn't complain too much about their path to the Super Regional - the NCAA could have just as well sent them to the Linfield bracket... well... not really because as with the other DIII sports we know that $$$ enters into the travel equation.

Anyway... I hear your beef, but you could make an argument that TLU doesn't even deserve to be as high as they are in the NCAA Regional or NFCA National polls given their schedule. Of course, for those of us here in Texas who know about travel ball, junior colleges, and the recruiting pool which both TLU and ETBU have at their disposal, either team which makes it out of their region will be one of the World Series favorites.

[justafan12]

I'll look forward to the expansion to 64. Most disappointing (though not surprising) for me was ETBU and TLU being put in the same pod. Would've loved to have seen one flight used to send TLU elsewhere...I mean, C'mon. You have 2 Top 10 teams in the same regional...no other regional has that. Unfair to both ETBU and TLU...they didn't deserve that after putting together outstanding seasons this year.

Unfair yes; but when does the NCAA care about fair at the D2 or D3 level.  Its all about $$ and how NOT to spend them at these levels.  Been this way for years and years and years.  I go back to the UT Tyler and ETBU days where those teams always played each other in regionals.  After those wars, SR or the WS, no wait National Championship, was always much easier.

Look at D2 this year.  Granted it did not happen but their bracket was set up with the #1 and #3 teams meeting each other at SR (West Texas A&M was upset at regionals).

[WLCALUM83]

Teams that have advanced out of regionals:

Linfield
Central-IA
ETBU,
Belhaven
UW-0shkosh
Coe
CWRU
CNU
VA Wesleyan
Rowan
Salisbury
Williams
Trine
Muskingum
Berry/Transylvania winner
Tufts

[Riley Zayas]

ETBU has a great year and will have an opportunity to host all the way through to the World Series! TLU also had a great year, but also never travelled outside the state of Texas (though I understand they had a great trip to Italy). They also have not played a Top 20 team, and have only played one regionally ranked team (Trinity). They also dropped out of the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Georgia the day before their first game - because of an unfavorable weather forecast (some teams got 5 of 6 games in, and some got all their games in). ETBU beat three Top 10 teams at that tourney. It would have been nice if TLU participated because four of their five games would have been against NCAA tournament bound/nationally ranked teams including #7 CWRU and #10 Bellhaven. Given their schedule and dropping out of a tourney nearly every other team attended, I wouldn't complain too much about their path to the Super Regional - the NCAA could have just as well sent them to the Linfield bracket... well... not really because as with the other DIII sports we know that $$$ enters into the travel equation.

Anyway... I hear your beef, but you could make an argument that TLU doesn't even deserve to be as high as they are in the NCAA Regional or NFCA National polls given their schedule. Of course, for those of us here in Texas who know about travel ball, junior colleges, and the recruiting pool which both TLU and ETBU have at their disposal, either team which makes it out of their region will be one of the World Series favorites.

Great points all the way around! It's not like I was too surprised by it, and I think ETBU clearly displayed they were the best team in that regional (by far) this weekend. TLU's SOS was below .500 as well, so there's that too. Seeding was probably fair, and optics just weren't great with both being Top 10 teams and I know I'm biased having seen both play multiple times this season and seeing the talent level up close. But as we always have to remind ourselves, national polls don't play a role in seeding or selections. Unfortunate situation with the NFCA deal as it would've at least put their SOS above .500. In the end, I think TLU was really talented this year, but the committee didn't have a lot to go on numbers-wise to back that up. SCAC wasn't a very good league this year, and that hurt their SOS too. Zero results vs regionally-ranked opponents doesn't help.

[WLCALUM83]

Update:  Transylvania has been eliminated. It's down to Berry/Maryville-TN in a winner-move on game. Berry just got a 1 run win (a strike-out with the bases loaded in the 7th) to set this deciding game up.

[WLCALUM83]

Deciding game final:  Berry 11, Maryville-TN 0

(Vikings' Sudick hurls a 5-inning perfect game, offensively an 8-spot gives Berry all the distance needed to advance.)

[WLCALUM83]

Super Regional Matchups:

Linfield/Central-IA
Salisbury/Tufts
ETBU/Williams
Berry/Belhaven
CNU/Rowan
VA Wesleyan/Muskingum
CWRU/Coe
Trine/UW-Oshkosh

[justafan12]

Matchups with region

Linfield (10) /Central-IA (9)
Salisbury (5) /Tufts (1)
ETBU (10) /Williams (1)
Berry (6) /Belhaven (6)
CNU (6) /Rowan (4)
VA Wesleyan (6) /Muskingum (7)
CWRU (7) /Coe
Trine (7) /UW-Oshkosh (8)

Surprised it wasn't a Linfield vs. ETBU matchup at SR.
Only one matchup with 2 teams from the same region.
Region 6 by far the strongest region with 6 teams advancing to SR.
Muskingum lowest ranked teams to advance at #5 (regional ranking).
No previous head to head matchups of any of the SR teams.