D 3 softball

[hoopstermom]

Actually, according to article on Tx Lutheran's softball page, St. Thomas is the #1 seed, but Illinois Wesleyan is the #2 seed, R-MC is 6th seed.  Go to the end of this article for full list:
https://tlubulldogs.com/news/2019/5/19/super-regional-champions-bulldogs-advance-to-d3-softball-world-series.aspx

[justafan12]

Thanks for the info.  I have posted the last paragraph below:

"The championship finals format is double-elimination. St. Thomas (Minn.) is the top seed. After St. Thomas, the seeds are in order: Illinois Wesleyan, Emory (Ga.), TLU, Williams, Randolph-Macon (Va.), Trine (Ind.), and Eastern Connecticut St."

That is interesting to me as to how they came up with these.  I don't disagree with them just don't follow their logic.  Williams was a #1 seed from the New England region but are ranked behind both TLU and Emory.  Trine was also a #1 from the Central.

[TheChucker]

As being discussed on dozens of pages over on the MIAC football thread, St. Thomas was just officially booted from the MIAC (with a 2-year max window). The UST softball team is top-notch nationally as are most of their sports. I could see the softball team being relevant in a higher division very quickly if UST was to move up. Regardless, it will be interesting to track them this weekend.

[justafan12]

I just saw the article on this.  The presidents council cited "athletic competitive parity" as their reasoning; AKA we could not compete with St. Thomas. 

[GameBall14]

Great start for Eastern Connecticut and TLU. Can St Thomas climb out of the loser's bracket?

[Mr. Ypsi]

Great start for Eastern Connecticut and TLU. Can St Thomas climb out of the loser's bracket?

Nope - Williams knocked UST out of the tourney today, 3-2 in 11 innings. 

#2 seed IWU is up on Randy Mac, 5-3, in the 7th.  Now a final, IWU knocks out RMC, 5-3.

[TheChucker]

Kudos to Texas Lutheran, the #3 bottom seed from the Texas regional, for already making the final four. It's time the NCAA stops restricting the two West Regions to three teams each with no extra Pool C bids traveling elsewhere, while all other regions get at least four.

[Mr. Ypsi]

#2 seed, and last year's runner-up, IWU is heading home, losing 1-0 to E. Conn.  E. Conn has had quite the tourney - seeded #8, they began by defeating #1 seed UST, and now eliminate #2 seed IWU.

[ECSUalum]

And not one word about ECSU women on local news outlet in CT!!  Pretty sad!

[TheChucker]

TLU takes game 1 convincingly with very strong bats, but Emory seemed a little tight. I'm sure Game 2 will look different.

One thing I love about following D3 (and D2) is I get some exposure to schools I wouldn't have usually noticed. I knew of Emory, but I didn't really how strong that school is academically. Pretty impressive.

[justafan12]

Kudos to Texas Lutheran, the #3 bottom seed from the Texas regional, for already making the final four. It's time the NCAA stops restricting the two West Regions to three teams each with no extra Pool C bids traveling elsewhere, while all other regions get at least four.

While I totally agree with you regarding this I just don't see it ever happening.  I have voiced my opinion with the West region for going 10 years now and I can only say it has gotten worse.  For a few years the NCAA would send Linfield to Iowa and let the Texas teams battle it out for a spot.  I think that pretty much stopped when PLU and Linfield were the National Championship game against each other. 

The reasons I think they won't make a change:

1. Money, money and money. 
2. With UT-Tyler leaving D3 it makes it much easier to deal with the remaining teams.  With UTT in the mix you had 3 teams with a consistent national presence; UTT, ETBU and Linfield.  Now that number is down to 2 (I guess you could add TLU to the mix now).
3. With TLU's win, a West team has won 5 of the last 10 softball championships (5 different teams).  While that should not matter, I am sure there are some teams in the East that are not very happy with that.  And in the 5 years that a West team did not win, the championship was won by only 2 others teams; Tufts and Virginia Wesleyan.

[justafan12]

I looked at the NCAA d3 softball website and only a small article about TLU winning.  No info on the games and who got all tournament, etc.  Weak coverage again by the NCAA. 

[GameBall14]

Congrats to TLU! They played exceptional softball all weekend and deserved to raise the trophy. A great run by Eastern CT who was coming off three straight losing seasons. The future looks bright for the Warriors with most of the team returning including Bolduk, their All American pitcher who missed three to four weeks with a hamstring injury this season. 

[hoopstermom]

Is there a final softball poll published by the NCAA or any other organization?  If so, where can it be found? 

[TheChucker]

Is there a final softball poll published by the NCAA or any other organization?  If so, where can it be found?

Here's the NFCA final poll for D3. It's probably the most used.

https://nfca.org/component/com_nfca/Itemid,230/list,1/pdiv,div3/top25,1/year,2019/