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Sports News: Spring 2004

Wednesday, April 28, 2004

MORAVIAN SOFTBALL SQUAD FALLS TO #7 IN LATEST NFCA DIVISION III TOP 25 POLL

STARKVILLE, MS --- The Moravian College softball team, which had been ranked #1 in the nation for the last month, fell to seventh the nation in the third regular season National Fastpitch Coaches Association Division III Top 25 Poll of the year released Wednesday.

Eight NCAA Division III head coaches representing the eight NCAA regions vote on the NFCA Division III Top 25 poll.

The Greyhounds, which had won 29 consecutive games before dropping a doubleheader to William Paterson (NJ) University last week, received 149 points while East Texas Baptist University, which Moravian defeated 7-3 on March 14th to capture the championship at the 2004 NFCA Division III Leadoff Classic in LaGrange, Georgia from March 12th to 14th, moved into the top spot. In addition to the victory versus East Texas Baptist at the Leadoff Classic, the Greyhounds defeated #3 Alma (MI) College, 2-0, #20 Roanoke (VA) College, 13-6, #22 Central (IA) College, 3-0 and Methodist (NC) College, which was ranked 14th at the time, 11-3. Moravian’s other loss this season is a 3-2 defeat to #14 Christopher Newport University.

Moravian, under the direction of head coach John Byrne, is 31-3 overall and 14-0 in Commonwealth Conference action this season. Coach Byrne, who has a career record of 324-114 in his 11th season at Moravian, earned the 300th victory of his career at the NFCA Leadoff Classic in the Greyhounds’ victory over Methodist.

Moravian was ranked tenth in the NFCA preseason poll back that was released on February 11th after finishing the 2003 season as the ninth ranked Division III team in the country. Prior to earning the top spot a month ago; the highest the Greyhounds had ever been ranked in the NFCA Top 25 Poll was in 1998 when the squad spent two weeks as the eighth-ranked team in the country.

Moravian is scheduled to return to action on Friday, April 30th as the top seed in the 2004 Commonwealth Conference Tournament. The Greyhounds will play fourth-seeded Juniata College at 11:00 a.m. on Friday at Lebanon Valley College in Annville, Pennsylvania.
The softball team was just the second-ever program at Moravian to be ranked as the top team in the country. The other team was the 2001 women’s cross country squad that spent six weeks at the top of the rankings.

2004 National Fastpitch Coaches Association Division III Top 25 Poll
Records as of April 25, 2004

Rank School (First Place votes) Record Points Previous
1. East Texas Baptist University (8) 36-2 200 2
2. Salisbury (MD) University 31-5 183 4
3. Alma (MI) College 32-4 181 5
4. University of St. Thomas (MN) 32-4 172 11
5. Ramapo College of New Jersey 28-4 158 16
6. Cortland State (NY) University 31-5 155 7
7. Moravian College 31-3 149 1
8. Muskingum (OH) College 33-5 134 10
9. Simpson (IA) College 32-4 130 18
10. Washington (MO) University 30-2 127 3
11. Augustana (IL) College 31-7 124 20
12. Wheaton (MA) College 29-10 111 19
13. Chapman (CA) University 32-8 110 9
14. Christopher Newport (VA) University 36-7 103 6
15. Illinois Wesleyan University 28-8 78 8
16. Union (NY) College 21-3 75 22
17. Linfield (OR) College 33-7 63 23
18. Rowan (NJ) University 28-8 61 NR
19. Williams (MA) College 25-6 58 NR
20. Roanoke (VA) College 32-10 52 NR
21. Bluffton (OH) College 26-6 31 21
22. Central (IA) College 29-6 30 25
23. Western New England College 32-9 26 NR
24. University of Chicago 26-9 22 12
25. Cal State Hayward 28-6-1 16 NR

Others receiving votes: Emory (GA) University 15; Montclair State (NJ) University 13; Wartburg (IA) College 10; Keene State (NH) College 5; Ithaca (NU) College 3; University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire 3; Buffalo State University 1; University of LaVerne (CA) 1.

Dropped out: #13 University of Southern Maine; #14 Wartburg (IA) College; #15 University of LaVerne (CA); #17 Louisiana College; #24 Smith College