Justin’s College Softball Week 6 “Mid-Major” Top 10

National College Softball Editor Justin McLeod’s “Mid-Major” Top 10 is here following Week 6 action.

No shock and surprise here, but the Ragin Cajuns continue their stronghold on the top spot after sweeping a conference series against Southern Miss in Hattiesburg. A couple of the games were close for a time, but the Cajuns poured on the offense when they needed to. The Cajun pitching staff looks solid.

Also a stalwart at the top of the MM Top 10 for the last few weeks, Central Arkansas holds at #2 in this week’s rankings after a 3-1 week that included a quality game against Oklahoma State and a series sweep over North Florida. The Bears are a quality, quality club.

Checking in at #3, their highest ranking of the season, is Boston; the Terriers swept a doubleheader with Fairfield over the weekend and split a doubleheader with Yale on Tuesday. The Yale loss will hurt down the stretch, but the 2-1 game doesn’t hurt BU’s spot in these rankings. They’re a solid team.

Leading the C-USA pack this week is North Texas, who swept past UTSA in a conference series and outscored the Roadrunners 31-6. The Mean Green have looked pretty solid all year, but seem to be hitting a stride in the early-goings of conference play.

Charlotte holds pat at #5 after winning a conference series at FAU. The Niners were down 2-0 in the series’ rubber match, but came back to win in nine innings 3-2 to take home the series victory. The loss to the upstart Owls isn’t a major indictment on Charlotte’s RPI, and they bookended the series in Boca Raton with midweeks against Clemson and Virginia Tech.

After dropping one game of their conference series against Sam Houston State, Grand Canyon falls to #6 in this week’s MM Top 10. The Lopes looked really solid in non-conference play, but faltered a bit to open WAC play. The Lopes did still win the series to start conference play on the positive side in the win column.

Continuing their season-long prowess, Southern Illinois now owns a 7-game winning streak; the Salukis completed a two-game sweep over Missouri State in midweek conference play and then brutalized Valpo in a three-game weekend conference series. The Salukis outscored the Beacons 32-1 on the weekend.

Before a loss to Duke on Tuesday night, Liberty had enjoyed a 15-game winning streak including a 3-0 start to ASun play. After beginning the season 1-9, the Flames are well on the plus-side of .500 and look like their usual postseason-contending selves.

Making their first appearance of the year in the MM Top 10 are the Marshall Thundering Herd. Marshall is 22-3 on the season, an impressive win total even considering a lighter schedule strength. The Herd are 1-0 to start Sun Belt play, with the final two games of their conference series against Appalachian State canceled due to cold temperatures over the weekend.

Boise State rounds out the Week 6 rankings, and the Broncos are another squad that finally look to be delivering on preseason expectations. The Broncos started conference play with a 3-game shellacking of UNLV in Las Vegas, outscoring the Rebels 31-10 in three games, and also took a win over BYU on Tuesday afternoon.

ALSO NOTE:

The “picking up attention” section is large this week, as several teams garner their first recognition of the 2023 season… Saint Peter’s, out of the MAAC, looks solid early and are off to a 13-6 start… North Dakota State enjoyed a 3-1 impromptu trip to Mississippi that included a win over Mississippi State… UC Davis garners their own inaugural mention after taking a series win over Cal State Fullerton open Big West play, while the top-half of teams in both Conference USA and the Sun Belt look pretty strong in the early-goings.