NEW YORK | The top three teams from last season’s final weekend headline the 2025 preseason coaches’ poll, but of course, there can only be one at the very top.

That honor goes to the team from last season that fell just short of the championship finale in Farmingdale State. The Rams were edged by conference runner-up Old Westbury, who went on to lose to eventual repeat champion Manhattanville in the tournament.

The top-seeded Valiants ended Farmingdale State’s three-year championship run in 2023 (FSC's 2022 championship team pictured below) and then bested the Panthers in 2024 to repeat after earning the top spot in last spring’s preseason poll. Manhattanville defeated Old Westbury 10-1 in five innings to claim the team's fifth Skyline title.
 
The Rams received five of the possible 10 first-place votes (institutions were not permitted to vote for their own teams) in the overall tally for 77 points.

Manhattanville received four of the other five first-place votes and narrowly comes in second place in the rankings with 76 total points registered. Old Westbury collects the final first-place vote and is third with 58 points.

Mount Saint Mary (54), St. Joseph’s-Brooklyn (52) and Mount Saint Vincent (45) round out the top six in the playoff projections, respectively.

The six-team 2025 Skyline Conference Softball Championship gets underway with first-round action on Tuesday, May 6, before the four-team, double-elimination portion of the tourney is contested from May 8-10.

The winner of the Skyline title earns automatic qualification to the following week's 2025 NCAA Division III Softball Championship.

2025 Skyline Conference Softball Preseason Coaches Poll

Pl., Team (2024 record, 2024 conference record), Pts. (first-place votes)

1. Farmingdale State (31-10, 17-1 Skyline), 77, (5 first-place votes)
2. Manhattanville (31-10, 17-1), 76 (4) 
3. Old Westbury (24-14, 11-7), 58 (1)
4. Mount Saint Mary (17-22, 12-6), 54
5. St. Joseph’s-Brooklyn (23-14, 12-6), 52
6. Mount Saint Vincent (10-26, 7-11), 45
7. St. Joseph's-Long Island (12-20, 7-11), 38
8. Purchase (9-22, 5-13), 26
9. Sarah Lawrence (2-24, 2-16), 16
10. Yeshiva (0-30, 0-18), 8