Central climbs in softball rankings
Central Dutch Athletics
PELLA—There’s snow on the ground and the Central College softball team has yet to venture outside the walls of H.S. Kuyper Fieldhouse, but the Dutch climbed four spots in this week’s NFCA Division III Top 25 poll.
Central improved from No. 22 to No. 18 as several other teams around the nation saw action.
Defending champion Virginia Wesleyan is 2-0 and remains a unanimous choice at No. 1 ahead of Illinois Wesleyan University and Ithaca College (N.Y.). American Rivers rival Luther College slipped six spots to No. 16 after going 1-1 in a pair of indoor games during a snowstorm in Rochester, Minnesota last weekend while Coe College climbed two positions to No. 17.
Central opens the season Monday, March 11 with games against Saint Mary’s College (Ind.) and No. 7-ranked Case Western Reserve University (Ohio) in Tucson, Arizona, part of a 16-game, 10-day spring break competition in the Tucson Invitational Games. While in Arizona, the Dutch will also tackle No. 25-rated George Fox University (Ore.) March 16. Saint Mary’s received votes in the NFCA preseason poll but was not mentioned this week.
NFCA Division III Top 25 Poll – Feb. 27, 2019
| Rank | Team | 2019 Record | Points | Previous |
| 1 | Virginia Wesleyan (8) | 2-0 | 200 | 1 |
| 2 | Illinois Wesleyan | 0-0 | 192 | 2 |
| 3 | Ithaca | 0-0 | 184 | 3 |
| 4 | St. Thomas (Minn.) | 4-0 | 176 | 7 |
| 5 | Rowan | 0-0 | 168 | 5 |
| 6 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 0-0 | 146 | 8 |
| 7 | Case Western Reserve | 0-0 | 138 | 9 |
| 8 | East Texas Baptist | 11-0 | 137 | 21 |
| 9 | Berry | 3-0 | 126 | T13 |
| 10 | Randolph-Macon | 0-0 | 117 | 11 |
| 11 | Pomona-Pitzer | 7-0-1 | 114 | NR |
| 12 | Williams | 0-0 | 113 | 12 |
| T13 | Christopher Newport | 1-1 | 99 | 6 |
| T13 | Wisconsin-Whitewater | 0-0 | 99 | T13 |
| 15 | Linfield | 2-1-1 | 91 | 4 |
| 16 | Luther | 1-1 | 88 | 10 |
| 17 | Coe | 0-0 | 74 | 19 |
| 18 | Central | 0-0 | 52 | 22 |
| 19 | Wisconsin-Oshkosh | 3-1 | 51 | 20 |
| 20 | Rhodes | 7-1 | 36 | NR |
| 21 | Manhattanville | 0-0 | 29 | 24 |
| T22 | The College of New Jersey | 1-1 | 28 | 18 |
| T22 | Saint Benedict (Minn.) | 1-1 | 28 | 17 |
| 24 | Moravian | 0-0 | 22 | 23 |
| 25 | George Fox | 0-0 | 21 | 16 |
Others receiving votes: Salisbury 17, Texas Lutheran 12, Wisconsin-Stout 11, Geneseo 10, Calvin 8, Southwestern 5, St. John Fisher 4, and Tufts 4.
Dropped out: Amherst, Arcadia, Aurora, Cortland, Emory, Hope, Lynchburg, Messiah, Saint Mary’s (Ind.), Texas-Tyler.
