LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Alfred University softball team finishes the 2021 season as the 24th-ranked team in the country, as the National Fastpitch Coaches Association released its final Top 25 poll of the 2021 season on Thursday, June 3.
 
The Saxons received 28 votes after a solid showing at the NCAA Division III Softball Regional Championships, held in Eau Claire, Wis. May 21-23. AU defeated Piedmont (Ga.) in the opening game, before falling to then-No. 8 Linfield and Piedmont in an elimination contest to end the season with a 32-11 record. Piedmont has since moved up in the rankings, finishing at No. 18 in the country. Among the final top-25 schools, Alfred has also defeated both No. 8 Rochester and No. 11 St. John Fisher during the 2021 season.
 
Virginia Wesleyan (46-6-1) is the No. 1 team in the final NFCA national poll after winning its third NCAA championship in four tournaments this past weekend. They are followed by national runners-up in Texas Lutheran (36-6), with DePauw (40-5), TCNJ (26-5), and Birmingham Southern (33-8) rounding out the top five.
 
Alfred's 32 victories are the third-most in program history, following the 2010 (37-8) and 2015 (40-7) squads. The Saxons, Empire 8 Champions for the second time in program history, finished with a program-record 113 stolen bases, 367 strikeouts, and tied the 2010 squad with 12 shutouts.