LOUISVILLE, Ky. — No. 1 Salisbury won eight more games to solidify its standing atop the NFCA Division III Top 25 Coaches Poll for a third consecutive week.

The (34-1) Sea Gulls head into Saturday’s regular season-ending doubleheader with No. 7 Christopher Newport (26-5) having won their last 29 games. The two squads are undefeated in Coast-to-Coast Conference play and are assured of being the top two seeds in next week’s league tournament.

The first five teams in the rankings went a combined 23-0 over the past week, including No. 2 Linfield (36-0), which extended its school-record win streak to 36 games with a four-game conference sweep of George Fox. The Wildcats’ run is also the longest string of victories in Division III this season.

No. 5 Berry (39-3) could be the first team to lock up an NCAA tournament berth this season when it plays Birmingham-Southern for the Southern Athletic Association’s automatic bid in this weekend’s best-of-three championship series. Berry, which has won 21 straight contests, swept the three games played between the two teams on April 6-7.

Meanwhile, seven of the next nine teams in the Top 25 are poised to open conference tournament play later this week. No. 6 Belhaven (34-4) is the second seed for the Collegiate Conference of the South tournament and will play the winner of Wednesday’s matchup between Maryville and Agnes Scott on Thursday at No. 9 Huntington, the top seed. The (32-4) Hawks also play Thursday, against the winner of Wednesday’s game between Piedmont and LaGrange.

No. 8 Randolph-Macon (29-3-2) is the second seed in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference tournament and will host Averett in one four-team pod on Friday. No. 11 Virginia Wesleyan (30-7), the top seed in the ODAC tournament, will host Shenandoah on Friday in the other tournament pod.

No. 12 Texas Lutheran (28-3) is the top seed for the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament and will host the winner of the Southwestern-Centenary (La.) matchup later in the day Friday. No. 13 Pfeiffer (38-2) and 14th-ranked Rowan (31-7) are the top seeds for the USA South and New Jersey Athletic Conference tournaments, respectively, and will also open play later this week.

Elsewhere, Mount Union (31-4) entered the rankings this week at No. 22 after running its win streak to 16, while perennial poll stalwarts Rochester (25-7) and St. John Fisher (28-4) got back in the mix in the receiving votes category.

The NFCA Division III Top 25 Coaches Poll is selected by 10 NCAA Division III head coaches representing the 10 NCAA regions. Current records are listed, with first-place votes in parentheses. 

NFCA Division III Top 25 Softball Coaches Poll

April 30, 2024

Others receiving votes: SUNY New Paltz 9, Rochester 8, Wisconsin-Whitewater 7, St. John Fisher 5 and WashU 2.

Dropped out: Coe, Eastern and Lynchburg.

2024 NFCA Division III Top 25 Committee

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