Saxon Softball Moves into Top 25
ALFRED, NY – The Alfred University softball team, in the midst of a school-record 16-game winning streak, has moved into the top 25 of the national rankings.
The National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) released its weekly
Division III poll today and Alfred is ranked 23
rd. The Saxons (22-2), who have been ranked just outside the top 25 all season, last appeared in the NFCA top 25 in 2010. That year, AU made its first-ever appearance in the NCAA Division III playoffs and reached 25
th in the NFCA poll.
Alfred sits atop the Empire 8 Conference standings with a 4-0 league record, a half-game ahead of St. John Fisher. AU is coming off a pair of key Empire 8 doubleheaders last weekend, in which they swept both Utica and Ithaca. The Saxons, who swept non-league doubleheaders at home against Hilbert Monday and at Penn College Tuesday, resume conference play this weekend with doubleheaders at Elmira (Friday, April 17, 3 p.m.) and at Stevens (Sunday, April 19, 1 p.m.).
AU is represented in several categories of the team and individual statistical rankings for NCAA Division III, for games played through April 12. The Saxons are seventh in the nation in hitting (.393), eighth in slugging percentage (.585) and ninth in both fielding percentage (.974) and win percentage (.895).
AU sophomore third baseman
Liz Thompson and senior pitcher-first baseman
Alison Wickwire are each ranked in the top five nationally. Thompson is fifth in the nation in batting average (.574) and fourth in triples per game (.31). Wickwire leads the nation in homeruns per game (.44) and is third in both slugging (1.000) and RBIs per game (1.67).