Oklahoma City, OK - Back-to-back NCAA WCWS champions Florida land at No. 1 in the Preseason ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 26, 2016
Back-to-back NCAA WCWS champions Florida land at No. 1 in the Preseason
ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll
OKLAHOMA CITY - The Amateur Softball Association (ASA)/USA Softball
announced the results from the Preseason ESPN.com/USA Softball
Collegiate Top 25 Poll today, with reigning NCAA Women's College World
Series (WCWS) champions Florida atop the polls after claiming 17 of the
available 20 first-place votes. Capturing the No. 2 spot with one
first-place vote is Michigan, while LSU rests at No. 3 after receiving
two votes.
Click here to see a complete listing of the ESPN.com/USA Softball
Collegiate 2016 Top 25 Preseason Poll.
<http://www.teamusa.org/USA-Softball/College-Corner/2016-College-Corner/Top-25-Polls >
Finishing the 2015 season at No. 1 with a record of 60-7, the defending
Southeastern Conference (SEC) Champions Florida Gators reached the
60-win plateau for just the third time in school history and posted
their third-highest win percentage (.895). Florida will begin its season
Feb. 12 at the USF Wilson-DeMarini Tournament in Tampa, Fla., while
conference play starts a month later (March 12) at Auburn.
No. 2 Michigan, last year's runner-up at the NCAA WCWS, completed its
season with a 60-8 record and returns eight starters to this year's
squad. The Wolverines will also begin their season at the USF
Wilson-DeMarini Tournament and will square off with Florida in a No. 1
vs. No. 2 battle. Meanwhile LSU, who made it to the NCAA WCWS for the
fourth time in program history last season, returns seven starters and
will host the Tiger Classic where they will play Ohio State in their
first game of the season.
No. 4 Oregon and No. 5 Alabama round out the Top 5 in the preseason
poll. The Ducks, who tallied a program record of 21 conference wins last
season, will look to claim their fourth-straight Pac-12 title this
season. Following a 48-15 record in 2015, Alabama will begin its season
at the UCF Classic on Feb. 12.
Rounding out the Top 10 are No. 6 Auburn, No. 7 UCLA, No. 8 Oklahoma,
No. 9 Tennessee and No. 10 Florida State.
Of the teams ranked in the preseason poll, seven squads have athletes on
the 2016 USA Softball Women's National Team. Florida is represented by
Kelly Barnhill (Marietta, Ga.), Aubree Munro (Brea, Calif.), and Kelsey
Stewart (Wichita, Kan.) while LSU's Bianka Bell (Tampa, Fla.), Oregon's
Jenna Lilley (North Canton, Ohio), Alabama's Haylie McCleney (Morris,
Ala.), Auburn's Kasey Cooper (Dothan, Ala.), UCLA's Delaney Spaulding
(Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.), and California's Jazmyn Jackson (San Jose,
Calif.) will also suit up for the Red, White and Blue this summer.
Six teams ranked in the Top 25 also have athletes on the 2016 USA
Softball Women's Elite Team. Tennessee boasts three Elite Team athletes
in Rainey Gaffin (Thornton, Colo.), Meghan Gregg (Williamson, Ga.) and
Brooke Vines (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.), while Oregon will be
represented by Cheridan Hawkins (Anderson, Calif.) and Gwen Svekis
(Davie, Fla.). Also represented by two athletes is LSU, as Emily Griggs
(Wichita, Kan.) and Bailey Landry (Prairieville, La.) will don USA
across their chests this summer. Also suiting up for the Elite Team are
Florida's Nicole DeWitt (Garden Grove, Calif.), UCLA's Paige Halstead
(Alta Loma, Calif.), Oklahoma's Sydney Romero (Murrieta, Calif.),
Missouri's Paige Lowary (Dallas Center, Iowa), and California's Annie
Aldrete (Monterey, Calif.).
The ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll is currently in its
14th year. Starting Feb. 16, regular season polls will be released for
14-consecutive Tuesdays with the final poll of the season to be released
on June 14 following the NCAA WCWS. The first of 14 USA Softball
Collegiate Player of the Week accolades will also be announced on Feb.
16 with a new player chosen each Tuesday of the regular season.
In addition to conducting the ESPN.com/USA Softball collegiate Top 25
Poll and the USA Softball Player of the Week, ASA/USA Softball is also
in the 15th season of the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year
award. The Top 50 Watch List for the USA Softball Collegiate Player of
the Year will be announced Feb. 3 with the Top 25 announced April 13,
the Top 10 announced May 11 and the Top 3 announced May 25. The 2016 USA
Softball Collegiate Player of the Year will be revealed May 31.
The ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll is voted on by coaching
representatives of 10 Division I Conferences in the 15 ASA/USA Softball
Regions as well as members of the National and Local media who
consistently cover Division I Softball across the country.
About ASA/USA Softball
Founded in 1933, the Amateur Softball Association (ASA)/USA Softball is
the National Governing Body Softball in the United States and a member
of the United States Olympic Committee. One of the nation's largest
sports organizations, ASA/USA Softball sanctions competition in every
state through a network of 70 local associations and has grown from a
few hundred teams in the early days to over 165,000 teams today,
representing a membership of more than 2.5 million. ASA/USA is
responsible for training, equipping and promoting the six USA Softball
National Teams that compete in international and domestic competitions.
The USA Softball Women's National Team is one of only two women's sports
involved in the Olympic movement to capture three consecutive gold
medals at the Olympic Games since 1996. The U.S. women have also won
nine World Championship titles as well as claimed eight World Cup of
Softball titles. For more information about ASA/USA Softball, please
visit http://www.asausasoftball.com <http://www.asausasoftball.com/ > .
About the NCAA Women's College World Series
The ASA Hall of Fame Stadium serves as the home to the NCAA Women's
College World Series (WCWS). For the 26th year, the top eight college
teams in the nation will head to Oklahoma City and complete for a
National Championship title. Last year, over 70,000 fans attended the
WCWS. Experience It Live June 2-8 in Oklahoma City. Tickets for the 2016
NCAA WCWS are on sale now, click here
<http://www.ncaa.com/championships/softball/d1/tickets-hospitality > to
purchase your tickets and make a date with champions!
Codi Warren I Managing Director of Communications
Amateur Softball Association/USA Softball
2801 NE 50th Street
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73111
405-425-3431 (O)
Visit Us Online: ASAUSASoftball.com
