LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Reigning national champion East Texas Baptist suffered its first loss of the season, but remains the unanimous No. 1 team in the first NFCA/GoRout Division III Top 25 Coaches Poll of the regular season.
The (13-1) Tigers lost 6-5 on Friday to new No. 2 Case Western Reserve (5-1) at the NFCA Division III Leadoff Classic in Columbus, Ga., but cruised through all five of their other games at the elite event to maintain their top spot. Case Western (5-1), which also won five games at the tournament — four against top-10 teams in the preseason poll — dropped only a one-run contest to Trine, 2-1 on Saturday, to surge five places from its No. 7 spot in the preseason poll last month.
Last year’s Leadoff champion, Linfield (5-1), was bumped down one place to No. 3 this week, and unranked Wisconsin-Eau Claire (6-2) also registered five victories at the three-day event. They combined to outscore their opponents 115-57 across their 12 games.
But the biggest movers in the poll were 2025 Leadoff titlist Redlands (11-2) and Huntingdon (12-2), who rocketed 12 and 14 places up the chart, respectively. The Bulldogs scored 66 runs and were a perfect 6-0 at the event to go from 22nd to 10th, while Huntingdon was 4-2 in Georgia, collecting two top-25 wins (Trine and St John Fisher) and losing only to top-ranked East Texas Baptist and champion Redlands.
Belhaven (6-5) dropped out of the top 10 following a 2-4 run at the Leadoff. The Blazers won their opening game against UChicago, but then lost four of their final five games there, including three losses coming against top-25 squads.
Despite uncharacteristically slow starts to their season, hopes remain high for perennial national powers Tufts and Rochester, so voters kept them in the poll for now, but did drop them heavily, to 20th and 24th. The (1-5) Jumbos lost to four top-10 teams at the Leadoff, while Rochester (1-3) lost twice to No. 13 Salisbury (3-1) and split two games with highly-regarded Swarthmore (2-2) in a three-team event hosted by Salisbury at Margie Knight Sea Gull Softball Stadium.
The NFCA/GoRout Division III Top 25 Coaches Poll is selected by 10 NCAA Division III head coaches representing the 10 NCAA regions. Current 2025 records are listed, with first-place votes in parentheses.
NFCA/GoRout Division III Top 25 Softball Coaches Poll – March 4, 2025
|
Rank |
Team |
Points |
2025 Record |
Previous |
|
1 |
East Texas Baptist (10) |
250 |
13-1 |
1 |
|
2 |
Case Western Reserve |
240 |
5-1 |
7 |
|
3 |
Linfield |
230 |
5-1 |
2 |
|
4 |
Rowan |
220 |
4-0 |
3 |
|
5 |
Wisconsin-Oshkosh |
210 |
6-0 |
4 |
|
6 |
Virginia Wesleyan |
200 |
6-0 |
8 |
|
7 |
Christopher Newport |
190 |
6-0 |
9 |
|
8 |
Texas Lutheran |
180 |
11-0 |
14 |
|
9 |
Trine |
170 |
3-3 |
10 |
|
10 |
Redlands |
160 |
11-2 |
22 |
|
11 |
Huntingdon |
150 |
12-2 |
25 |
|
12 |
Williams |
140 |
0-0 |
12 |
|
13 |
Salisbury |
130 |
3-1 |
13 |
|
14 |
Belhaven |
120 |
6-5 |
5 |
|
15 |
Berry |
110 |
9-1 |
15 |
|
16 |
Central |
100 |
2-2 |
11 |
|
17 |
Pfeiffer |
90 |
6-2 |
18 |
|
18 |
Calvin |
80 |
3-1 |
20 |
|
19 |
Muskingum |
70 |
0-0 |
19 |
|
20 |
Tufts |
60 |
1-5 |
6 |
|
21 |
Wisconsin-Whitewater |
50 |
0-0 |
21 |
|
22 |
Wisconsin-Stevens Point |
31 |
7-1 |
23 |
|
23 |
Randolph-Macon |
29 |
5-1 |
17 |
|
24 |
Rochester |
16 |
1-3 |
16 |
|
25 |
St. John Fisher |
14 |
4-2 |
23 |
Others receiving votes: DePauw 6 and Saint Mary’s (Minn.) 4.
Dropped out: Bethel, Coe, Eastern, Husson, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Saint Benedict and WashU.
2025 NFCA Division III Top 25 Committee
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