D 3 softball

[7express]

Western Connecticut softball off to a disappointing 8-13 start overall but 2-0 in the conference.

Started the season with 11 straight defeats down in Florida: Concordia (WI), Middlebury, Stevens Point, Buffalo state, Elmhurst, St. Benedict, New Paltz, Whitewater, Carroll, Chicago and St. Thomas.  Since returning from Florida we have 8 wins in our last 10 outings including Boston twice in our first LEC DH sweep of the year.  We currently trail Wesleyan 2-0 in the 5th inning this afternoon.

[sbparent]

HUGE double-headed in MIAA on Wednesday puts 8-0 (18-6) Alma at 4-0 (21-3) Trine. This will be a good tester to see a) how good Trine really is and b) if Alma really is a contender this year. Should be a good one since these teams lately have had more success on the road in this series. Can't wait to see the Rezmer/Gasco dule. Probably the two best pitchers in the region....

Saw where this game was cancelled.  Have they set a makeup date yet?

[sflzman]

HUGE double-headed in MIAA on Wednesday puts 8-0 (18-6) Alma at 4-0 (21-3) Trine. This will be a good tester to see a) how good Trine really is and b) if Alma really is a contender this year. Should be a good one since these teams lately have had more success on the road in this series. Can't wait to see the Rezmer/Gasco dule. Probably the two best pitchers in the region....

Saw where this game was cancelled.  Have they set a makeup date yet?

League policy is to reschedule the game for the same time the next day (as long as there are no other conflicts). So basically it's gonna come down to weather. If it was at alma it'd be a while for sure (local schools were cancelled today because of flooding) I'm not sure how the weather is down in Angola though.

[sflzman]

To further expand on that. The only place where games are being played in the whole league is Adrian for baseball. But they have a turf field so rarely postpone games for weather.

[sflzman]

Trine's twitter account announced that they are hosting a regional.

[Mr. Ypsi]

I confess I don't follow softball at all, but was checking on how all IWU teams are doing.  They are only 3-3 in conference, but 18-5 overall.  Then I noticed EVERY CCIW team is well over .500 overall (the second-place team is 22-0 non-con; the last-place team, winless in conference, is 13-3 non-con).  CCIW teams collectively are an astounding 113-22 (held down by those Wheaton slackers who are only 9-6 )!

My question: is the CCIW considered an elite softball conference, or are the surrounding teams really, really bad?  (An honest question; like I said, I just don't know softball.)

[WLCALUM83]

Ypsi, your IL Wes softball squad isn't 20th ranked for nothing--having split with ranked MIAA power Trine, beat ranked UT-Tyler (who gets to the D3 softball World Series yearly) and having Linfield and U of Chicago on the non-conference schedule as well. Linfield lost to Pacific Lutheran in the World Series final last year, and the Maroons also qualified for the NCAA tournament last year.

The number of CCIW NCAA softball entrants has widely varied recently-- per CCIW archives-- in 2010, Carthage, Augustana, IL Wes and North Central got in-- in '11 only North Central got in, last year Carthage and IL Wes got in.

With the WIAC, the MIAA and IIAC all a relative stones throw away , it can be a real dogfight competing with those conferences for post-season NCAA positioning.

[NCF]

Ypsi, your IL Wes softball squad isn't 20th ranked for nothing--having split with ranked MIAA power Trine, beat ranked UT-Tyler (who gets to the D3 softball World Series yearly) and having Linfield and U of Chicago on the non-conference schedule as well. Linfield lost to Pacific Lutheran in the World Series final last year, and the Maroons also qualified for the NCAA tournament last year.

The number of CCIW NCAA softball entrants has widely varied recently-- per CCIW archives-- in 2010, Carthage, Augustana, IL Wes and North Central got in-- in '11 only North Central got in, last year Carthage and IL Wes got in.

With the WIAC, the MIAA and IIAC all a relative stones throw away , it can be a real dogfight competing with those conferences for post-season NCAA positioning.

And North Central is right behind them at 23. The Cardinals lone losss was to IWU in game 2 of a dh a few weeks ago.

[sflzman]

Trine survives the upset bid in game 1 after alma took a 1-0 lead (first run trine had given up in conference) battled back with one in the 6th and 7th to win 2-1.

Game 2 trine routed alma. Don't think Rezmer was ready to pitch a full double header yet.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Like I said, I don't generally follow softball, and THIS site obviously doesn't have softball rankings.  Could someone point me to the softball rankings?

Even us guys with a million posts are newbies sometimes!   (I try to help out newbies; I hope you will return the favor.)

It appears that the CCIW is well above average in softball.  But are they an elite conference?

[NCF]

Like I said, I don't generally follow softball, and THIS site obviously doesn't have softball rankings.  Could someone point me to the softball rankings?

Even us guys with a million posts are newbies sometimes!   (I try to help out newbies; I hope you will return the favor.)

It appears that the CCIW is well above average in softball.  But are they an elite conference?

Here they are:
http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/softball/d3

[dahlby]

Mr. Ypsi,

You can also check out the National Fastpitch Coaches Assn at  www.nfca.org   .
They do most other divisions as well.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Thanks, guys!  Hmm - three CCIW teams in the top 25, but, on the other hand, they are only 20th, 23rd, and 25th.  I guess my original assumption may be correct: WELL above average, but perhaps one level down from truly 'elite'.

[NCF]

Tough day for North Central as they dropped two to Carthage yesterday, by the scores of 5-1 and 7-2.

[NCF]

The Cards took two from Millikin yesterday 8-0 and 11-3. In game 1, Vlasta Mangia threw the programs fourth perfect game.