LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Reigning national champion Christopher Newport starts the year where it finished 2022, as the No. 1 team in the NFCA Division III Top 25 Preseason Coaches Poll.

The (47-1) Captains were the top-ranked team in the country for the final nine weeks, dropping just one contest all season, and winning their final 24 games. They averaged 8.6 runs per game while allowing just 84 runs all season.

Christopher Newport was a perfect 12-0 in the postseason without having to leave their home state, including beating fellow NCAA Finals participant Salisbury (42-8) in the Coast-to-Coast Conference Tournament and sweeping two hard-fought games from 2021 national champion and local rival Virginia Wesleyan in the Super Regionals. At the finals site in Salem, Va., the Captains were 5-0.

Meanwhile, a season that started with a family emergency and 0-7 record turned into one of the best feel-good stories of the year, with head coach Donnie Danklefsen’s Trine squad winning 20 of their final 22 to finish second nationally. The (35-13) Thunder’s lone two losses over that stretch were the two games they lost to Christopher Newport in the best-of-three national championship series.

Six of the eight national finals participants open 2023 ranked in the top eight, with third-place finishers Texas Lutheran (45-6) and Berry (36-13), occupying spots No. 4-5, fifth-place finisher Salisbury (42-8) starting third, and seventh-place finisher Millikin (37-9) opening eighth.

Fifth-place finisher Eastern Connecticut State (44-7), which lost both Schutt Sports/NFCA National Pitcher of the Year Alexis Michon and All-America outfielder Cassie Woods via transfer to national runner-up Trine, is 17th for starters, while seventh-place finisher Worcester Polytechnic (35-17) is 22nd.

Elsewhere, No. 21 Rochester (26-15) won 24 of its final 27 games to close the season, dropping only the first game of a twinbill with Union on April 29, then falling to Virginia Wesleyan and Amherst in the NCAA Regionals in May.

The NFCA Division III Top 25 Coaches Poll is selected by 10 NCAA Division III head coaches representing the 10 NCAA regions. Final 2022 records are listed, with first-place votes in parentheses. Weekly polls begin on March 14 and continue through May 16. A final poll will be released on June 13 following completion of the national championship.

NFCA Division III Top 25 Softball Coaches Poll – Preseason

Others receiving votes: Mount St. Joseph 8, Wisconsin-Eau Claire 7, Hiram 4 and Coe 2.

2023 NFCA Division III Top 25 Committee

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