The NCAA News - News and Features

The NCAA News -- July 5, 1999

Softball panel suggests shift in regional alignment

The Division II Softball Committee spent most of its annual meeting June 21-24 in Kansas City, Missouri, examining regional alignment for the 2001 championship in order to equalize the number of participating institutions in each region while maintaining the strength of competition.

The committee will forward a recommendation to the Division II Championships Committee that would move the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference from the Mid-Atlantic Region to the Great Lakes Region, and the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association from the South Atlantic Region to the Mid-Atlantic Region. The Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Conference and Lincoln (Missouri) would move to the North Central Region from the South Central Region. No changes will be made before the 2000 championship.

In addition, the committee will solicit bids for the 2002 championship. The 2000 championship will be conducted in Columbus, Georgia (Columbus State, host). Salem, Virginia, which has been the site for three previous Division II championships, including 1999, will host in 2001.

In other actions, the committee agreed that an in-region power rating will be instituted for the 2000 season to further assist the committee in evaluating strength of schedule. Five points will be awarded to a team defeating an opponent that is ranked in that region's top five. A loss to an in-region, top-five team or a win against an unranked regional opponent will merit three points. The in-region power rating will be evaluated in addition to the overall power rating used by the committee in the past.

The committee requests that any questions regarding the rankings be submitted in writing to the regional advisory chair.

The committee also evaluated its championship site-selection criteria. Further, it will request that a 15-foot, white foul pole with wing be included to eliminate ambiguity.

The group also voted to mandate that championship umpires wear the powder blue, short-sleeve pullover shirts approved by the Softball Rules Committee.