Mustangs hold firm to No. 2 national ranking

Another impressive week on the softball diamond has the Northeast Alabama Community College softball team holding firm to its No. 2 national ranking.

The Mustangs are ranked second for the second consecutive week in the latest National Junior College Athletic Association Division I Softball Rankings.

It's the fourth straight week that the NACC softball program, which is in just its second year of existence, has been ranked after not appearing in the NJCAA's preseason poll. The Mustangs debuted at No. 3 in the rankings on March 2. They slid to No. 4 the following week before moving up two places to the No. 2 spot last week. 

NACC is coming off of a four-game sweep of then-No. 24-ranked Gadsden State, improving to 27-1 on the season and 8-0 in Alabama Community College Conference play. 

In the new rankings released Monday afternoon, Grayson College (Texas) is ranked No. 1 followed by No. 2 NACC, No. 3 Northwest Florida State College, No. 4 Florida Southwestern and No. 5 McLennan (Texas) Community College. NACC defeated McLennan three times during last month's Mustang Invitational.

NACC faces another ranked foe and one of the ACCC's tri-leaders in a four-game series this week, taking on No. 10 Wallace State-Hanceville starting Thursday. The teams play a doubleheader at Wallace State on Thursday starting at 2 p.m. before concluding the series with a doubleheader Saturday at 2 p.m. at NACC's Nathaniel Ledbetter Stadium.

Tickets are available at gofan.co/app/school/AL100680 for Saturday's home doubleheader. Students receive free admission by showing a current NACC ID.