Wednesday, May 6, 2009

MORAVIAN SOFTBALL SQUAD RANKED 22ND IN LATEST NFCA DIVISION III TOP 25 POLL     

STARKVILLE, MS --- The Moravian College softball team returned to the nation rankings, listed 22nd in the nation in the tenth poll National Fastpitch Coaches Association NCAA Division III Top 25 Poll of the 2009 regular season released Wednesday. 

Linfield College received all eight first-place votes and 200 points to hold down the top spot in the poll for a second straight week while The University of St. Thomas (MN) has 178 points to be second in the poll.  Central (IA) College holds down the third spot in the poll after receiving 172 points.  Moravian, which was ranked 14th in the preseason poll, 11th in the first regular season poll and 25th in the second poll, received 24 points.  The Greyhounds have received votes the last two week.

Moravian, under the direction of 16th-year head coach John Byrne, has posted a 34-9 record and won the 2009 Landmark Conference Tournament Championship.  Two of the team’s losses are ranked in the top 25 as the Greyhounds fell to #4 Ohio Northern University, 1-0; and #19 The University of Rochester (NY), 4-3 in eight innings.

Moravian is one of two teams from the East Region ranked with the Greyhounds being joined by 16th ranked William Paterson University.  Messiah College and Rowan University each received votes in the poll but were not ranked in the Top 25.

The Greyhounds are scheduled to return to action on Thursday, May 7th in the 2009 NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament at a regional being hosted by Ramapo College of New Jersey.  Moravian, seeded fourth in the eight-team regional, is slated to play fifth seed Eastern Connecticut State University at 12:00 p.m. on Thursday.

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