AUM News
Softball - Tue. May. 08, 2012
KANSAS CITY, Mo. ----- Following its runner-up finish at the Southern States Athletic Conference Tournament, the Auburn University at Montgomery softball team maintained its No. 18 ranking in the final NAIA Softball Coaches' Top 25 Poll, the national office announced Tuesday.

The Warhawks (38-18) earned 213 total points in the poll and trail St. Gregory's (Okla.) by 32 points for the No. 17 spot.

Concordia (Calif.) held onto the top spot, earning 529 points and all 19 first-place votes. Cal State San Marcos remained second, followed by Oklahoma City, Central Baptist and Lubbock Christian.

AUM was one of five SSAC teams ranked in the top 25. The Warhawks were joined by No. 6 William Carey, No. 10 Shorter, No. 13 Lee and No. 16 Brenau. Mobile and Brewton-Parker were among the others receiving votes.

In addition to announcing its final poll of the regular season, the NAIA also released its field of 32 teams for the 2012 NAIA Softball National Championship, held May 17 - 23 at the Gulf Shores Sportsplex in Gulf Shores, Ala. As a result of its second-place finish at the SSAC Tournament, AUM was among the 32 teams who will compete for the 2012 national championship.

The current field is comprised of 23 automatic qualifiers based upon their conference / independent / unaffiliated group tournaments, eight at-large selections, which were determined using the final Top 25 rating released today and the host berth, Mobile.

The National Championship opens May 17 with pool play beginning at 9 a.m. CDT. There are eight pools of four teams apiece competing through May 19 for the best record. The pool play assignments and schedule will be announced on Wednesday by 3 p.m.

The eight winners from each pool then meet in double-elimination bracket play, which starts May 21 at 10 a.m.

Complete Poll

RANK

LAST WEEK

SCHOOL (1ST PLACE VOTES)

2012 RECORD

TOTAL POINTS

1

1

Concordia (Calif.) (19)

54-3

529

2

2

Cal State San Marcos

50-4

512

3

3

Oklahoma City

40-18

495

4

4

Central Baptist (Ark.)

50-5

465

5

5

Lubbock Christian (Texas)

54-7

458

6

6

William Carey (Miss.)

47-9

451

7

7

Oregon Tech

39-7

435

8

8

Azusa Pacific (Calif.)

40-10

403

9

10

Olivet Nazarene (Ill.)

53-7

388

10

12

Shorter (Ga.)

46-11

359

11

9

Houston-Victoria (Texas)

39-8

357

12

13

Union (Tenn.)

45-10

343

13

11

Lee (Tenn.)

46-10

322

14

14

Williams Baptist (Ark.)

49-9

310

15

15

Southern Nazarene (Okla.)

40-17

291

16

16

Brenau (Ga.)

39-14

260

17

17

St. Gregory's (Okla.)

43-14

245

18

18

Auburn Montgomery (Ala.)

38-18

213

19

19

Corban (Ore.)

31-14

210

20

20

Central Methodist (Mo.)

40-12

205

21

22

Lindsey Wilson (Ky.)

46-11

187

22

21

Reinhardt (Ga.)

34-11

170

23

23

Webber International (Fla.)

37-20

122

24

24

Saint Xavier (Ill.)

37-16

114

25

RV

Bethany (Kan.)

44-7

102


Others receiving votes: Mobile (Ala.) 95; William Penn (Iowa) 79; Bellevue (Neb.) 68; Madonna (Mich.) 58; Indiana Wesleyan 33; South Carolina Beaufort 16; Indiana Southeast 16; Morningside (Iowa) 10; Oklahoma Christian 8; Davenport (Mich.) 7; Baker (Kan.) 4; Evangel (Mo.) 3; William Jessup (Calif.) 3; Georgetown (Ky.) 1; Rogers State (Okla.) 1; Brewton-Parker (Ga.) 1; Concordia (Ore.) 1; Texas Wesleyan 1; Thomas (Ga.) 1; William Woods (Mo.) 1; Science & Arts (Okla.) 1; Park (Mo.) 1; Campbellsville (Ky.) 1; College of Idaho 1; Northwestern (Iowa) 1; Columbia (Mo.) 1.