FLORENCE, SC - The Francis Marion University women's softball team earned its highest national ranking since moving to NCAA affiliation in 1992 when the Patriots moved up four spots to No. 6 in this week’s National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Division II Top 25 poll. The Patriots will play their final regular-season home games on Saturday (March 29) when FMU entertains USC Aiken on Senior Day.

The Peach Belt Conference doubleheader will start at 1 p.m. on the FMU Softball Field and admission is free. Between games of the twinbill, Francis Marion will recognize its three seniors: second baseman Allie Aleman (Santa Ana, Calif.), right-handed pitcher Melanie Bisek (Oregon, Wis.), and first baseman Monica Wofford (Myrtle Beach, S.C.).

With a 28-7 record (8-4 in the PBC), the Patriots are looking for their 10th 30-win campaign in the past 12 years. FMU had been ranked 10th in each of the past two national polls, equaling a No. 10 listing during the 2005 season. FMU was ranked No. 1 when playing under NAIA affiliation in the 1980’s.

Francis Marion does top the most recent South Atlantic Region Poll released on March 27.    Each of the past four years, the Patriots have narrowly missed out on earning a bid to the NCAA Division II region tournament, which consists of eight teams from the three conferences in the South Atlantic region.

 Two of the three Patriot seniors are four-year letterwinners: Aleman and Wofford. Aleman has appeared in 162 and owns career totals of a .345 average, 107 runs scored, 38 doubles, 23 home runs, 125 runs batted in, and 24 stolen bases. Wofford already owns the NCAA Division II national record for being hit by pitches (52) to go along with a .331 average, 120 runs scored, 39 doubles, 20 home runs, and 104 RBIs in 176 career games.   This season, Wofford is ranked fourth nationally in runs scored per game (1.18). Bisek transferred from Parkland College in Illinois and in two years has batted .271 with three homers and 15 RBIs. This season on the mound, she owns a 7-1 mark with a 2.64 earned run average.

Over the past four seasons, FMU has won 72.3 percent of its games for a combined 125-48 record.

Francis Marion will close out its 2008 regular-season schedule with three road doubleheaders before hosting the Peach Belt Conference Tournament, April 18-20, at the Freedom Florence Recreational Complex.