LOUISVILLE, Ky. — East Texas Baptist is once again the unanimous No. 1 team in the NFCA/GoRout Division III Top 25 Coaches Poll, after dropping a first-place vote to second-ranked Rowan last week.
The defending national champion (37-3) Tigers tuned up for this week’s American Southwest Conference tournament with a four-game sweep of then-No. 25 Hardin-Simmons over the weekend. This is the 11th straight poll with East Texas Baptist as the top team, dating back to the final ranking of last season.
Meanwhile, second-ranked Rowan reached the 40-win plateau by capturing its New Jersey Athletic Conference tournament opener, 2-0 over Stockton on Saturday. The (40-1) Profs face Ramapo next in the double-elimination event on Friday. Rowan swept the regular-season doubleheader between the two teams on April 17.
No. 3 Christopher Newport (34-4) could play eighth-ranked Salisbury for a third straight game in Friday’s Coast-to-Coast championship after sweeping the (32-5-1) Sea Gulls in both teams’ regular-season finale this past Saturday. Salisbury and Mary Washington face off earlier on Friday for the right to play against the Captains in the tournament final.
Trine (32-4), Virginia Wesleyan (39-3-1) and Linfield (35-5) moved up one spot apiece, while Redlands (33-7) advanced three places, followed by Salisbury. Texas Lutheran (39-3), which failed to capture the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament title for just the second time in the past 11 seasons, lost twice to champion St. Thomas by a total of three runs to slide from No. 4 to ninth in the rankings this week.
WashU (29-5) and Saint Mary’s (37-3) both gained one place without playing, ahead of Belhaven and Huntingdon who are tied for the No. 12 spot. Belhaven defeated the Hawks 2-0 in Sunday’s Collegiate Conference of the South championship.
Case Western Reserve (26-9) and Wisconsin-Whitewater (35-5) complete the first 15.
Elsewhere, Swarthmore (31-9) beat then-No. 14 Gettysburg in the Centennial Conference tournament to grab the No. 25 spot in the rankings this week. The top-seeded Garnet will face the second seed (37-5) Bullets again in the championship round on Wednesday, with Gettysburg needing to defeat Swarthmore twice to claim the tournament title.
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 – May 6, 2025
|
Rank |
Team |
Points |
2025 Record |
Previous |
|
1 |
East Texas Baptist (10) |
250 |
37-3 |
1 |
|
2 |
Rowan |
240 |
40-1 |
2 |
|
3 |
Christopher Newport |
230 |
34-4 |
3 |
|
4 |
Trine |
220 |
32-4 |
5 |
|
5 |
Virginia Wesleyan |
210 |
39-3-1 |
6 |
|
6 |
Linfield |
200 |
35-5 |
7 |
|
7 |
Redlands |
190 |
33-7 |
10 |
|
8 |
Salisbury |
180 |
32-5-1 |
8 |
|
9 |
Texas Lutheran |
170 |
39-3 |
4 |
|
10 |
WashU |
160 |
29-5 |
11 |
|
11 |
Saint Mary’s (Minn.) |
150 |
37-3 |
12 |
|
T12 |
Belhaven |
135 |
31-7 |
15 |
|
T12 |
Huntingdon |
135 |
36-5 |
9 |
|
14 |
Case Western Reserve |
120 |
26-9 |
16 |
|
15 |
Wisconsin-Whitewater |
110 |
35-5 |
17 |
|
16 |
Wisconsin-Oshkosh |
100 |
34-6 |
18 |
|
17 |
Gettysburg |
90 |
37-5 |
14 |
|
18 |
Moravian |
80 |
33-7 |
13 |
|
19 |
Baldwin Wallace |
70 |
29-2 |
19 |
|
20 |
Pfeiffer |
60 |
33-7 |
20 |
|
21 |
Simpson |
50 |
31-6 |
21 |
|
22 |
Illinois Wesleyan |
40 |
31-7 |
22 |
|
23 |
Randolph-Macon |
30 |
34-9 |
23 |
|
24 |
Ithaca |
20 |
25-6 |
24 |
|
25 |
Swarthmore |
5 |
31-9 |
NR |
Others receiving votes: Greenville 3 and Chapman 2.
Dropped out: Hardin-Simmons.
2025 NFCA Division III Top 25 Committee
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