Kansas City, Mo. - The Saints of Our Lady of the Lake (Texas) and defending national champions, step to the plate and open the 2025 NAIA Softball Coaches' Top 25 Rating in first place, garnering 15 first-place votes. Science & Arts (Okla.) ranks second earning a pair of first-place votes. Cumberlands (Ky.) opens the year in third, while Southern Oregon received the final two first-place votes to sit in fourth, followed by Oregon Tech who rounds out the top five.

Rating Methodology:

• The rating is rated by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conference/Continental Athletic Conference (Independents).
• The Top 25 is determined by a points system based on how each rater rates the best teams. A team receives 30 points for each first-place vote, 29 for second-place, 28 for third-place and so on through the list.
• The highest and lowest ratings for each team (a non-rating is considered a low rating) are removed. The team’s rating will be recalculated with an additional point added to each team for every ballot (including discounted ballots) that the team appears on.
• Teams that receive only one point on the ballot are not considered "receiving votes".

Receiving Votes: Saint Xavier (Ill.) 78, Evangel (Mo.) 77, Houston-Victoria (Texas) 54, Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) 52, Missouri Baptist 46, Tennessee Wesleyan 42, Reinhardt (Ga.) 37, Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) 37, Grand View (Iowa) 31, Rio Grande (Ohio) 30, Stillman (Ala.) 15, Mid-America Christian (Okla.) 14, Bellevue (Neb.) 10, Shawnee State (Ohio) 5, Campbellsville (Ky.) 5, Johnson (Tenn.) 3, St. Francis (Ill.) 3