Kansas City, Mo. - The Central Methodist Softball program moved three spots to No. 9 in the third edition of the NAIA Coaches' Top 25 poll, which was announced by the national office.
Benedictine and Grand View are the other two programs from the Heart of America to be featured, each receiving votes.
Central is currently 28-6 and 12-2 in the Heart of America, having won nine of their last 10 games. The Eagles are one game back of first place in the regular season standings.
CMU will host William Penn for a doubleheader on Saturday, April 12, at 1:00 p.m. at Cox Softball Complex.
To view the poll methodology and the complete Top 25 poll, please see below.
Rating Methodology:
- The rating is rated by a panel of head coaches representing each 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."
| RANK | LAST TIME | INSTITUTION [FIRST-PLACE VOTES] | RECORD | FINAL POINTS |
| 1 | 1 | Southern Oregon [19] | 30-2 | 510 |
| 2 | 2 | Oregon Tech | 24-4 | 491 |
| 3 | 3 | Science and Arts (Okla.) | 26-6 | 474 |
| 4 | 4 | Cumberlands (Ky.) | 24-6 | 449 |
| 5 | 5 | Oklahoma City | 26-6 | 434 |
| 6 | 9 | LSU Alexandria (La.) | 30-3 | 411 |
| 7 | 7 | Northwestern (Iowa) | 30-5 | 399 |
| 8 | 8 | Georgia Gwinnett | 27-5 | 390 |
| 9 | 6 | Central Methodist (Mo.) | 23-5 | 379 |
| 10 | 10 | Our Lady of the Lake (Texas) | 28-6 | 375 |
| 11 | 12 | Madonna (Mich.) | 21-6 | 318 |
| 11 | 13 | Eastern Oregon | 18-3 | 318 |
| 13 | 15 | Indiana Wesleyan | 22-4 | 311 |
| 14 | 11 | Marian (Ind.) | 23-5 | 293 |
| 15 | 16 | Missouri Baptist | 25-5 | 270 |
| 16 | 18 | St. Thomas (Fla.) | 31-4 | 252 |
| 17 | 14 | Southeastern (Fla.) | 27-6 | 249 |
| 18 | 19 | Hope International (Calif.) | 21-7 | 232 |
| 19 | 22 | Saint Xavier (Ill.) | 17-6 | 172 |
| 20 | 20 | College of Idaho | 20-6 | 170 |
| 21 | 24 | Evangel (Mo.) | 26-6 | 145 |
| 22 | 23 | Midland (Neb.) | 21-10 | 120 |
| 23 | RV | Middle Georgia State | 22-8 | 108 |
| 23 | RV | Texas A&M Texarkana | 27-5 | 108 |
| 25 | 25 | Campbellsville (Ky.) | 16-8 | 97 |
Dropped from Top 25: Mobile (Ala.), William Carey (Miss.)
Receiving Votes: Mobile (Ala.) 88, Benedictine (Kan.) 63, William Carey (Miss.) 56, Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) 42, Rio Grande (Ohio) 40, Grand View (Iowa) 19, Jamestown (N.D.) 16, Friends (Kan.) 15, Keiser (Fla.) 12, Thomas (Ga.) 10, Johnson (Tenn.) 5, Brenau (Ga.) 4, Coastal Georgia 3, Saint Francis (Ind.) 2
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