LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Following a dominant performance in its Lone Star Conference series, West Texas A&M extended its record streak at the No. 1 spot to 55 consecutive weeks in this week’s NFCA Division II Poll that was released by the Association on Wednesday. The top six positions in the poll did not change with just one change to the top 10 and two additions to the top 25.

 

During their Whiteout Cancer Weekend, the Lady Buffs (17-2) run-ruled Midwestern State in all four games, outscoring the Mustangs, 47-5 to earn the sweep. WT, which picked up 13 of 16 first-place votes (396 points), has won seven straight and 14 of its last 15 contests. Their run dates back to Feb. 26, 2014 when the Lady Buffs took over the No. 1 position and have not looked back.

Valdosta State (21-2) tallied the other three first-place votes and continued its hold on No. 2 with a 5-0 week, including a three-game Gulf South series sweep of then-No. 22 North Alabama. The Blazers opened with a mid-week doubleheader shutout of Florida Southern (4-0 / 9-0) and followed that by allowing just one run in their sweep of the Lions (5-0 / 6-1 / 1-0). For the week, Valdosta’s pitching staff, posted a 0.21 ERA with 34 strikeouts and just two walks in 33 innings. They surrendered 11 hits and held their opponents to a .098 batting average.

Coming in the No. 3 spot is Cal State Monterey Bay (16-3), which went 3-1 in a CCCA road series at Cal State East Bay. The Otters split with the Pioneers (2-1 / 3-5) in the opening doubleheader, but bounced back to take the series with 6-5 and 13-3 victories on Saturday.

No. 4 Missouri-St. Louis (13-1), for the second straight week, and No. 5 St. Mary’s (Texas) (17-3) were idle. No. 6 Angelo State went 3-1 at Eastern New Mexico in a Heartland road series. No. 7 Dixie State (17-5) and No. 8 Alabama-Huntsville (13-5) each moved up a spot, while North Georgia moved back into the top-10 at No. 9 and West Chester fell to No. 10.

The seventh-ranked Red Storm opened its Aloha State trip with a four-game PacWest sweep of BYU-Hawaii by outscoring the Seasiders, 38-4. The Chargers took two-of-three from RV Shorter in a Gulf South home series, while the Nighthawks went 3-1 at their Captain D’s Classic with victories over Lincoln Memorial (6-0 / 6-0), Mercyhurst (9-0). Rounding out the top 10 are the Rams, who opened their week 5-1 at the Dot Richardson Spring Games.

Southern Indiana (9-1) and Sonoma State (17-4) make their first appearances of the season in the poll, coming in at No. 22 and 24, respectively, while Humboldt State (11-7) and West Virginia Wesleyan (2-2) dropped out.

The NFCA Division II Top 25 Poll is voted on by 16 NCAA Division II head coaches with two representing each of the eight NCAA regions. 2015 records and previous week’s rankings are shown with first-place votes in parentheses.

NFCA Division II Softball Poll – March 11, 2015

Rank

Team

2015 Record

Totals

Prev. Rank

1

West Texas A&M

17-2 (13)

396

1

2

Valdosta State

21-2 (3)

384

2

3

Cal St. Monterey Bay

16-3

359

3

4

Missouri-St. Louis

13-1

352

4

5

St. Mary’s (Texas)

17-3

333

5

6

Angelo State

18-2

303

6

7

Dixie State

17-5

297

8

8

Alabama-Huntsville

13-5

285

9

9

North Georgia

16-4

263

11

10

West Chester

5-1

254

7

11

LIU Post

0-0

221

10

12

Winona State

10-1

211

15

13

Georgia College

22-4

201

17

14

Caldwell

0-0

191

14

15

Rollins

17-1

182

16

16

Central Oklahoma

13-5

138

18

17

California Baptist

20-4

130

20

18

Indianapolis

8-4

108

21

19

Wingate

10-6

82

13

20

Emporia State

12-4

80

23

21

North Alabama

15-4

76

22

22

Southern Indiana

9-1

52

RV

23

Arkansas Tech

10-5

49

12

24

Sonoma State

17-4

34

NR

25

Augustana (S.D.)

7-3

33

25

Dropped Out: No. 19 Humboldt State (11-7), No. 23 West Virginia Wesleyan (2-2).

New to Poll: No. 22 Southern Indiana, No. 24 Sonoma State

Others Receiving Votes: Southern New Hampshire (31), Humboldt State (30), Lenoir Rhyne (26), Metro State (18), Ashland (15), Kutztown (13), West Virginia Wesleyan (13), Wayne State (Mich.) (13), Grand Valley State (10), Shorter (6), California (Pa.) (5), Eckerd (4), Arkansas Monticello (1), UC San Diego (1).