The Lincoln Memorial University softball program have concluded the final 2022 rankings at No. 23 in the nation for DII, announced by the NFCA following the program’s first South Atlantic Conference Tournament championship and another NCAA DII Southeast Regional title.

The 2022 season was a milestone for head coach Ritchie Richardson and his Lady Railsplitter squad, setting the single-season program-record win-mark at 39, following a game two victory in the NCAA DII Southeast Super Regional at North Georgia.

A wild ride of up-and-downs, LMU also set the longest single-season winning-streak of the Ritchie Richardson era at 13, immediately following up the mark with an 11-game skid to close out the regular season.

The Blue & Grey fortunes flipped once again as the host of the annual South Atlantic Conference Softball Championship Tournament, winning all three contests inside Dorothy Neely in dramatic fashion. One week later, the No. 5-seeded Lady Railsplitters won three additional matchups, stunning host and No. 1-seed Anderson at the Southeast Regional in South Carolina. Junior ace and All-NFCA Southeast Region First Team selection Emma Frost earned all six victories in the run-up to the Southeast Super Regional.

Lincoln Memorial have twice hit the 38-win mark under the direction of Coach Richardson, first in 2019 and just last season. So far in the first five seasons with Richardson at the helm, the program has amassed 155 victories, two South Atlantic Conference regular season championships, two Southeast Region championships, one SAC Tournament title and three Southeast Super-Regional appearances.

The 2022 NFCA Division II Top 25 Poll is voted on by 16 NCAA Division II head coaches with two representing each of the eight NCAA regions. Records reflect games played through May 31.