• Seven ODAC teams won 20 or more games in 2023 with six posting better than .500 records.
• Randolph-Macon won 43 games, tying Roanoke's 2000 squad for the fifth-most in ODAC history.
• Virginia Wesleyan rattled off 39 wins, while Roanoke (29), Lynchburg (24), Guilford (23), Randolph (22), and Bridgewater (20) joined the 20-win club.
• Roanoke and Randolph-Macon topped the ODAC standings with 17-3; the Maroons, as the top seed after tiebreakers, hosted #4 Guilford, #5 Lynchburg, and #8 Shenandoah in opening weekend double-elimination pod play; Randolph-Macon, as the #2 seed, welcomed #3 Virginia Wesleyan, #6 Bridgewater, and #7 Randolph to campus.
• Roanoke won the minimum three games to claim its pod as the Maroons topped Shenandoah (2-1), Lynchburg (5-4), and Guilford (3-2) to advance.
• Randolph-Macon needed one additional contest to move on from its pods; RMC defeated Randolph (10-2 in 6 inn.), Virginia Wesleyan (6-2), and then split the final two games with VWU, fall 2-1 in the first possible advancing game and claiming a 2-0 victory in the winner-take-all seventh game of the pod.
• In the final best-of-three series, Randolph-Macon posted 4-2 and 4-3 wins to claim the program's second ODAC title, joining the Yellow Jackets first crown in 2015.

• Randolph-Macon, the ODAC's automatic qualifier, was joined by Roanoke and Virginia Wesleyan as at-large bids in the NCAA's field of 64 teams; each won at least two games.
• Virginia was the place to be for 2023 Division III softball regionals with three schools hosting four-team pods; that group included RMC and VWU with RC traveling to the third at Christopher Newport.
• Randolph-Macon dropped its first game, 3-2, to Swarthmore, but then worked its way back to advancement position with wins over St. John Fisher (11-3 in 5 inn.) and Ramapo, 5-2; on the final day, RMC rattled off 4-0 and 3-0 results over Swarthmore to advance to the super regional round.
• Roanoke won its first game, 3-0, over Misericordia, but then fell to the host Captains in the Maroons' second game, 2-0; RC rebounded another win over Misericordia, this time by a 6-1 score, but CNU topped RC, 3-0, in the first of two possible advancing games to eliminate the Maroons from the bracket.
• Virginia Wesleyan started its regional pod with a 6-0 win over John Jay followed by a 9-3 triumph over TCNJ; the Lions worked back to face the Marlins for the regional crown and earned a 7-4 in the first possible advancing game to force a winner-take-all final; VWU won that matchup, 6-2, to move on to the super regionals.
• Both RMC and VWU were eliminated in three games from their super regional matchups; in Ashland, Randolph-Macon defeated Rowan, 3-0, in the first game, but the Profs won the next two, 5-1 and 5-3, to advance to the national championship series in Marshall, Texas; Virginia traveled to local CNU and topped the Captains, 5-2, in game one, but CNU earned 3-1 and 6-4 victories in the next two games to end the Marlins season.

• NFCA DIVISION III TOP-25 PRESEASON COACHES POLL: the NFCA published its annual top-25 preseason poll in a release on February 6; two ODAC teams feature in the season's initial rankings with Virginia Wesleyan slotted ninth in the country and Randolph-Macon right behind the Marlins in 10th position.

A little more than half of the All-ODAC honorees from 2023 are back for another run in 2024. The return of all five special individual award winners adds to the star power on league rosters.

Virginia Wesleyan leads the way with six of its eight all-conference standouts returning to Virginia Beach. That includes 2023 ODAC Rookie of the Year, second baseman Laci Campbell. Defending champion Randolph-Macon welcomes back all five of its All-ODAC honorees including ODAC Player of the Year, first baseman/pitcher Rilee Baughan and ODAC Pitcher of the Year Gracie Ellis. Ellis doubled as the ODAC/Virginia Farm Bureau Insurance Scholar-Athlete of the Year last season.

Reigning ODAC Coach of the Year Mike Mitchell benefits from the return of four of his seven all-conference stars.

• All-ODAC First Team Returners
  • Gracie Ellis, P, RMC
  • Lauren Bible, P, VWU
  • Samantha Hensley, 1B, EMU
  • Laci Campbell, 2B, VWU
  • Alison Pollack, 3B, VWU
  • Grace Calus, OF, GC
  • Amanda Lanyon, OF, RMC
  • Sarah Prosser, OF, VWU
  • Rilee Baughan, UT, RMC
• All-ODAC Second Team Returners
  • Emily Charlton, P, LYN
  • Kayla Davis, C, RMC
  • Emma Adams, 1B, VWU
  • Lilly Burns, SS, RC
  • Peanut Rivera, OF, RC
  • Julia Piotrowski, OF, VWU
  • Kate Houle, UT, RC
• All-ODAC Third Team Returners
  • Lindsay Gedro, P, RC
  • McKenna Mueller, SS, BC
  • Kassidy Lancos, SS, GC
  • Hannah Jones, OF, AU
  • Kaleigh Hackett, OF, LYN
  • Dominique Irving, OF, RAND
  • Olivia Owens, OF, RMC

The athletes listed below represent the top-three returning statistical leaders for major statistical categories from the 2023 season.
Batting Minimums: 2.5 plate appearances per game and played in 75% of team games
Pitching Minimums: 1.0 innings pitched per team game

• Coaching has always been a strong feature since the ODAC began sponsoring softball in 1989-90.
• Five ODAC coaches – EMU's J.D. McCurdy, LYN's Dawn Simmons, RMC's Kevin Proffitt, RC's Mike Mitchell, and VWU's Brandon Elliott – have both won more than 350 games and own better than .500 career winning percentages.
• Elliott enters the season tied for third among active Division III head coaches (minimum 5 years) in winning percentage at .803.
• Simmons is 13th on the list of winningest active coaches by victories at 690; she should become the 25th coach to reach 700 wins in Division III history this season.
• Three coaches are new to the ODAC ranks in 2023; Josh Freeman takes the reins at Ferrum after four years at Northeast Texas Community College; Charissa Duncan returns to her alma mater at Guilford to run the Quakers program after six seasons in the high school coaching ranks; Brian Hensley opens his second season at Sweet Briar with the Vixens returning to the ODAC fold in 2024.
   

Below are the win-loss records for each coach entering the 2024 spring campaign.

• The ODAC will feature 12 competing squads this season with Sweet Briar College returning to the conference for the first time since the 2017 season.
• All teams will feature a 22-game conference schedule, facing all 11 other teams in a doubleheader format. Each team can compete in a maximum of 18 non-conference games to reach 40, the maximum set by Division III.
• The first regular season games are slated for the weekend of February 17-18.
• The first conference games of the season are slated for the week of March 18-24.
• The ODAC Softball Tournament will again be played in an altered format with the conference's traditional home at the James I. Moyer Sports Complex in Salem not yet available due to its on-going multi-million dollar renovation.
• The top-eight teams will enter into the postseason field and compete in two separate segments.
  • Opening Series: Weekend of May 3-6
    • Pod #1: Seeds 1-4-5-8 at #1
    • Pod #2: Seeds 2-3-6-7 at #2
  • Championship Series: Wednesday-Saturday, May 8-11
    • Two winners from opening weekend play at highest remaining seed
    • Best-of-3 series on two consecutive days
    • Graduation and ceremonies could impact days of use