| By: Jacob Pumphrey
The National Fastpitch Coaches Association released its final weekly Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll on Wednesday morning and Southern Arkansas will begin their Central Region run ranked No. 8 in the country.
The Lady Muleriders (52-9) enter NCAA postseason play as the No. 2 seed in the Central Region. No. 15 Augustana (41-13) comes to Magnolia for the Central Region 2 Tournament. Central Region No. 1 Winona State checked back in at No. 5 nationally and joining the Warriors in Minnesota for the Sub-Region I Tournament will be T-No. 25 Minnesota Duluth (40-13), and RV Arkansas Tech (43-17).
North Georgia (53-2) remains the top ranked team in the nation for the third-consecutive week and received 15 first-place votes, while No. 2 Chico State received the final first place vote and No. 3 Colorado Mesa remained unmoved.
The 2018 NFCA Division II Top 25 Poll is voted on by 16 NCAA Division II head coaches with two representing each of the eight NCAA regions. Records reflect games played through May 6, 2018.
The Lady Muleriders prepare to host their second Central 2 Sub-Regional in three years as they welcome in No. 3 Augustana (41-13), No. 6 Washburn (39-12), and No. 7 Minnesota State-Mankato (33-17). The double-elimination tournament begins on Thursday at 3 p.m. from Dawson Field inside the Mulerider Softball Complex. Tournament Central can be accessed here: http://muleriderathletics.com/sports/2018/5/7/2018-ncaa-dii-softball-central-region-tournament.aspx.
Sub-region winners meet in a best-of-three super regional at the campus site of the higher seed with the winners of each of the eight super region tournaments advancing to the DII College Softball World Series. The super regionals are slated for May 17-18 and the finals will be held May 24-28 at the Moyer Sports’ Complex in Salem, Va.
Keep up-to-date with SAU Softball’s postseason run by visiting www.MuleriderAthletics.com.
