Sports News: Spring 2008

Thursday, March 6, 2008

MORAVIAN SOFTBALL SQUAD RANKED 23RD IN FIRST REGULAR SEASON NFCA DIVISION III POLL OF 2008

STARKVILLE, MS --- The Moravian College softball team has been ranked 23rd in the nation in the first poll National Fastpitch Coaches Association NCAA Division III Top 25 Poll of the 2008 regular season released Thursday. 

Linfield (OR) College, last year’s national championship team, received seven first-place votes and 196 points to hold down the top spot in the poll while The University of Texas-Tyler received a first place vote and totaled 192 points to be second in the poll.  Lynchburg College holds down the third spot in the poll after receiving 181 points.  Moravian, which was ranked sixth in the preseason poll, received 29 points.

Moravian, under the direction of 15th-year head coach John Byrne, opened the season with a 1-3 record at the Beach Bash in Virginia Beach.  Two of the three losses were to teams in the top 25 as the Greyhounds fell to #3 Lynchburg, 6-5 in nine innings, and to #14 Rowan University, 3-1.

Moravian is one of four teams from the East Region ranked with the Greyhounds being joined by 14th-ranked Rowan, 18th-ranked Ramapo College of New Jersey and 25th-ranked Montclair State University.

The Greyhounds are scheduled to play Lynchburg again on Friday, March 7th at 12:00 p.m. on the first day of the Salisbury Seagull Classic in Salisbury, Maryland.  Moravian is also slated to play the host Sea Gulls on Saturday, March 8th at 3:00 p.m., and Salisbury received votes in this week’s poll.

The complete poll can be found at http://nfca.org/top25/index.php?cat_id=3.