LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Virginia Wesleyan remained the No. 1 choice in the NFCA Top 25 softball rankings for a sixth straight week, as teams prepare for the NCAA Tournament.
The (43-2) Marlins and seven other teams in the Top 25 were idle after completing their conference tournaments last week. Only Luther (39-3), which went 2-0 and captured the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament title on Saturday, was active among the unanimous and unchanged first five teams.
Otterbein (34-6) made the biggest surge of the week, outscoring its opponents 29-4 over three games en route to the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament crown, while Williams (31-10) went from the receiving votes category to 19th after winning its second-straight New England Small College Athletic Conference Tournament title.
Babson (28-13) and Widener (26-11) are the two newcomers this week, after claiming the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference and Middle Atlantic Conference Commonwealth championships, respectively. In all, 30 of the 32 teams receiving votes this week will be playing in the 62-team NCAA Tournament, which opens on Thursday.
The NFCA Division III Top 25 Poll is selected by eight NCAA Division III head coaches representing the eight NCAA regions. Current 2017 records are listed, with first-place votes in parentheses.
NFCA Division III Top 25 Poll – May 10, 2017
| Rank | Team | 2017 Record | Points | Previous |
| 1 | Virginia Wesleyan (8) | 43-2 | 200 | 1 |
| 2 | Berry | 38-2 | 192 | 2 |
| 3 | Luther | 39-3 | 184 | 3 |
| 4 | Texas-Tyler | 39-4 | 176 | 4 |
| 5 | Texas Lutheran | 37-4 | 168 | 5 |
| 6 | Texas-Dallas | 36-8 | 156 | 8 |
| 7 | Wisconsin-Whitewater | 36-7 | 149 | 9 |
| 8 | St. John Fisher | 36-6 | 148 | 6 |
| 9 | Central (Iowa) | 32-8 | 132 | 10 |
| 10 | East Texas Baptist | 35-8 | 110 | 12 |
| 11 | Christopher Newport | 31-8 | 103 | 16 |
| 12 | Messiah | 34-8 | 101 | 7 |
| 13 | Kean | 33-7 | 80 | NR |
| 14 | Moravian | 36-6 | 77 | 11 |
| 15 | Otterbein | 34-6 | 74 | 25 |
| 16 | Randolph-Macon | 33-9 | 67 | T18 |
| 17 | Whitworth | 35-9 | 66 | T18 |
| 18 | Ramapo | 28-9 | 65 | 13 |
| 19 | Williams | 31-10 | 52 | RV |
| 20 | Ithaca | 31-10 | 41 | 21 |
| 21 | Alma | 27-8 | 40 | NR |
| 22 | Trine | 32-8 | 36 | 14 |
| 23 | St. Thomas (Minn.) | 34-9 | 35 | 17 |
| 24 | Wisconsin-La Crosse | 28-14 | 34 | 23 |
| T25 | Coe | 29-9 | 30 | 20 |
| St. Catherine | 32-11 | 30 | NR |
Others receiving votes: Rowan 20, Wisconsin-Oshkosh 11, Widener 10, Babson 8, Wittenberg 3 and William Paterson 2.
Dropped out: Cortland, Emory & Henry, Hope, Springfield and Wisconsin-Eau Claire.
