MORAVIAN SOFTBALL SQUAD RANKED 13TH IN FINAL NFCA DIVISION III TOP 25 POLL OF THE 2006 SEASON

STARKVILLE, MS --- The Moravian College softball team, which earned its ninth straight trip to the NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament, is ranked 13th in the final 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 received a total of 92 points. Rutgers University-Camden, the 2006NCAA Division III National Champions, holds down the top spot with 200 points and all eight first-place votes. To view the complete Top 25 Poll, go to http://nfca.org/top25/index.php?cat_id=3&poll_id=125.

Moravian played three teams ranked in the final poll, falling to top ranked Rutgers-Camden, 1-0 in eight innings, and defeating 11th-ranked Methodist College, 5-0, and 12th-ranked SUNY Plattsburgh, 5-0.

Moravian, under the direction of head coach John Byrne, was 37-9 overall and won its sixth straight Commonwealth Conference Tournament Championship. Coach Byrne has a career record of 407-134 in his 13th season at Moravian.

Moravian was ranked 17th in this year’s NFCA Preseason Poll but was not ranked in the first regular season poll. The Greyhounds were back in the second poll in a tie for 21st before falling out of the third poll. Moravian was ranked 24th in the final regular season poll released just before the NCAA Tournament began.

The highest the Greyhounds have ever been ranked in the poll was in 2004 when Moravian held the top spot in the country for four weeks before finishing the season as the NCAA Division III National Runner-Up.