2014 NAIA Softball Coaches? Top 25 Poll ? No. 2
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – For the 12th-straight time, defending national champion Concordia (Calif.) holds the top spot in the NAIA Softball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll, the national office announced Tuesday. The Eagles, who entered the week with a 32-4 overall record and 9-1 mark in the Golden State Athletic Conference, received 15 first-place votes and 556 points.
The Eagles have won 14 of their last 15 games with the only loss coming against NCAA Division II Azusa Pacific (Calif.), 9-7, on March 20. Concordia boasts one of the NAIA’s most prolific offenses, ranking among the top five in runs scored (1st; 291), RBI (1st, 263), doubles (2nd; 57), hits (3rd; 318), slugging percentage (3rd; .608), at bats (7th; 890) and triples (8th; 14).
Oklahoma City checks in at No. 2 for the second-straight edition with five first-place votes and 546 points. The Stars are 27-3 on the season after sweeping a doubleheader against MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) on March 20.
Leaping three positions to No. 3 is Auburn Montgomery (Ala.) with 508 points. The Warhawks have won 10-straight, including a sweep of then-No. 19 Brenau (Ga.) on March 21, en route to a 19-3 record and 8-0 mark in the Southern States Athletic Conference.
Rounding out the top five for the second-straight week is No. 4 LSU Alexandria (La.) with 503 points and No. 5 Saint Xavier (Ill.) with 495 points, respectively.
The edition’s largest improvement came from Oregon Tech, which jumped five positions from No. 22 to No. 17. The Hustlin’ Owls have won 11-straight, including a pair against then-No. 15 College of Idaho on March 21.
No new teams joined the Top 25 this week.
The Southern States Athletic Conference has the most Top 25 mentions with five teams: Auburn Montgomery, No. 6 Spring Hill (Ala.), No. 9 William Carey (Miss.), No. 14 Belhaven (Miss.) and No. 21 Brenau (Ga.).
The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences /independent /unaffiliated groupings. The next regular-season Top 25 poll will be announced on April 1.
For the complete calendar of 2014 Top 25 Polls, click here.
Notes: (all information dating back to 2000) The 12-straight No. 1 rankings for Concordia (Calif.) is the longest stretch for any program since former member California Baptist rattled through 24-consecutive polls from 2009 - 11… No. 18 Central Methodist (Mo.) returned to the top 25 in the same position of its last previous ranking in the 2013 Preseason Top 25 (Nov. 12)… Sixteen programs have been ranked in each of the 10 polls (including Preseason) this year… No. 1 Concordia (Calif.) has now held the No. 1 position in 16 of the last 18 polls dating back to the 2012 season…No. 2 Oklahoma City leads all active schools with 93-straight rankings, falling no lower than 18th during that stretch, which dates back to start of 2004 season; No. 9 William Carey (Miss.) is second with 56-consecutive mentions and No. 1 Concordia is right behind at 47-straight polls… Since 2000, there have been 11 teams to be on top of the polls: Concordia, Cal State San Marcos, California Baptist, former member Lubbock Christian (Texas), Mobile (Ala.), Oklahoma Baptist, Oklahoma City, Oregon Tech, former member Simon Fraser (B.C.), former member Shorter (Ga.) and Thomas (Ga.)… California Baptist leads the way with 46 all-time No. 1 appearances, followed by Oklahoma City with 20, Simon Fraser with 18, Concordia with 17, Thomas with 13, Mobile with five and Lubbock Christian with four.
2014 NAIA Softball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll – No. 2 (March 25)| RANK | LAST WEEK | SCHOOL (1ST PLACE VOTES) | 2014 RECORD | TOTAL POINTS |
| 1 | 1 | Concordia (Calif.) (15) | 32-4 | 556 |
| 2 | 2 | Oklahoma City (5) | 27-3 | 546 |
| 3 | 3 | Auburn Montgomery (Ala.) | 19-3 | 508 |
| 4 | 5 | LSU Alexandria (La.) | 24-3 | 503 |
| 5 | 4 | Saint Xavier (Ill.) | 14-2 | 495 |
| 6 | 3 | Spring Hill (Ala.) | 20-5 | 458 |
| 7 | 7 | Cal State San Marcos | 20-3-1 | 450 |
| 8 | 9 | Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) | 22-1 | 437 |
| 9 | 13 | William Carey (Miss.) | 24-2 | 392 |
| 10 | 10 | Reinhardt (Ga.) | 26-7 | 386 |
| 11 | 10 | Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) | 12-2 | 376 |
| 12 | 12 | Biola (Calif.) | 24-6 | 370 |
| 13 | 16 | St. Gregory’s (Okla.) | 23-3 | 356 |
| 14 | 9 | Belhaven (Miss.) | 21-6 | 318 |
| 15 | 17 | Park (Mo.) | 22-2 | 296 |
| 16 | 14 | USC Beaufort (S.C.) | 19-5 | 289 |
| 17 | 22 | Oregon Tech | 15-5 | 282 |
| 18 | 18 | Central Methodist (Mo.) | 17-4 | 271 |
| 19 | 20 | Houston-Victoria (Texas) | 17-8 | 207 |
| 20 | 21 | Simpson (Calif.) | 27-5 | 202 |
| 21 | 19 | Brenau (Ga.) | 20-6 | 195 |
| 22 | 15 | College of Idaho | 12-8 | 147 |
| 23 | 24 | Campbellsville (Ky.) | 23-7 | 140 |
| 24 | 24 | Friends (Kan.) | 21-7 | 134 |
| 25 | 23 | Davenport (Mich.) | 14-4 | 106 |
Others receiving votes: Central Baptist (Ark.) 88; William Woods (Mo.) 73; Southeastern (Fla.) 71; Oklahoma Baptist 45; Mobile (Ala.) 41; Vanguard (Calif.) 31; William Penn (Iowa) 27; Our Lady of the Lake (Texas) 26; Waldorf (Iowa) 16; Concordia (Ore.) 11; Georgia Gwinnett 11; Evangel (Mo.) 9; Concordia (Neb.) 7; Indiana Wesleyan 7; Brescia (Ky.) 4; Columbia (Mo.) 4.
