KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Central Methodist celebrated its 2012 Heart of America Athletic Conference regular season championship by moving up one spot in the latest NAIA Softball Coaches' Top 25 Poll.
The Eagles, who swept their opening round series as the top seed in the HAAC Tournament last weekend, moved to No. 20 in this week's poll and will open the double-elimination championship round this Friday, May 4 at the Blue Valley Recreation Complex against MidAmerica Nazarene at 3:00 p.m.
Evangel continued to be listed among the others receiving votes after completing the regular season as the conference runner-up and also posting a pair of victories in the first round of the HAAC Tournament. The Crusaders will take on Baker when the HAAC Tournament resumes on Friday afternoon.
The Wildcats joined the Crusaders among those also receiving votes following a 2-1 victory over Peru State in the first weekend of the HAAC Tournament. Baker will be looking for revenge against Evangel after losing a pair of games to the Crusaders in the last season's conference tournament.
The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences /independent /unaffiliated groupings.
Notes: (all information dating back to 2000) There have been 37 different teams ranked in eight polls this year...� Concordia (Calif.) joins Lubbock Christian (Texas), Cal State San Marcos and Oregon Tech as the No. 1-ranked teams this year... No. 2 Cal State San Marcos has been positioned in either the Nos. 1 or 2 spots all year... Oregon Tech's No. 1 preseason ranking was nine spots higher than it had ever previously appeared in� any poll and its first top 10 ranking since being slotted 10th on March 19, 2002 ... Concordia joins Cal State San Marcos, former NAIA member California Baptist, Lubbock Christian, Mobile (Ala.), Oklahoma Baptist, Oklahoma City, Oregon Tech, former NAIA member Simon Fraser (B.C.) and Thomas (Ga.) as the only schools to appear at No. 1 ... California Baptist leads the way with 46 all-time No. 1 appearances, followed by Oklahoma City with 20, Simon Fraser with 18, Thomas with 13, Mobile with five, Concordia with five and Lubbock Christian with four... No. 25 Mobile leads all active programs with a 107-straight week stretch of being ranked in the Top 25... No. 3 Oklahoma City is second and has appeared in 79-straight polls, falling no lower than 18th during that stretch; No. 5 Lubbock Christian and No. 6 William Carey (Miss.) are tied for third with 42-consecutive mentions, No. 9 Houston-Victoria (Texas) follows with 37-straight and Concordia is at 33-straight polls.
| RANK | LAST WEEK | SCHOOL (1ST PLACE VOTES) | 2012 RECORD | TOTAL POINTS |
| 1 | 1 | Concordia (Calif.) (20) | 51-3 | 591 |
| 2 | 2 | Cal State San Marcos | 47-4 | 572 |
| 3 | 3 | Oklahoma City | 34-17 | 552 |
| 4 | 4 | Central Baptist (Ark.) (1) | 43-4 | 531 |
| 5 | 5 | Lubbock Christian (Texas) | 49-5 | 516 |
| 6 | 6 | William Carey (Miss.) | 47-9 | 492 |
| 7 | 8 | Oregon Tech | 37-7 | 476 |
| 8 | 7 | Azusa Pacific (Calif.) | 38-8 | 460 |
| 9 | 9 | Houston-Victoria (Texas) | 38-6 | 428 |
| 10 | 11 | Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) | 50-7 | 413 |
| 11 | 10 | Lee (Tenn.) | 46-10 | 388 |
| 12 | 12 | Shorter (Ga.) | 46-11 | 368 |
| 13 | 15 | Union (Tenn.) | 41-10 | 367 |
| 14 | 13 | Williams Baptist (Ark.) | 45-8 | 350 |
| 15 | 18 | Southern Nazarene (Okla.) | 37-14 | 310 |
| 16 | 16 | Brenau (Ga.) | 39-14 | 301 |
| 17 | 13 | St. Gregory's (Okla.) | 41-11 | 269 |
| 18 | 19 | Auburn Montgomery (Ala.) | 38-18 | 261 |
| 19 | 17 | Corban (Ore.) | 30-12 | 246 |
| 20 | 21 | Central Methodist (Mo.) | 37-12 | 212 |
| 21 | RV | Reinhardt (Ga.) | 34-11 | 199 |
| 22 | 20 | Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) | 45-12 | 196 |
| 23 | 22 | Webber International (Fla.) | 34-19 | 157 |
| 24 | 25 | Saint Xavier (Ill.) | 35-14 | 137 |
| 25 | 23 | Mobile (Ala.) | 30-17 | 113 |
