Oklahoma City, OK - Six teams claim stake on No. 1 spot in ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 Collegiate Poll
Jumping ahead to the No. 1 spot for the first time this season is the Michigan Wolverines (27-3, 5-1 Big Ten), who won their Big Ten Conference series against Indiana this past week, the Amateur Softball Association (ASA)/USA Softball announced today. Â After seven-straight weeks of seeing the Florida Gators (34-3, 9-3 SEC) atop the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll, Michigan claimed a majority of first-place votes, with six different schools earning at least one first-place vote. Michigan received nine-of-20 first-place votes, while Florida earned five and Auburn (33-4, 9-3 SEC) with three. Alabama (31-7, 5-4 SEC), Louisiana-Lafayette (29-3, 10-1 Sun Belt) and James Madison (30-2, 6-0 CAA) all garnered one vote each.
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Click here to see the complete ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll.
Six teams claim stake on No. 1 spot in ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 Collegiate Poll
OKLAHOMA CITY — Jumping ahead to the No. 1 spot for the first time this season is the Michigan Wolverines (27-3, 5-1 Big Ten), who won their Big Ten Conference series against Indiana this past week, the Amateur Softball Association (ASA)/USA Softball announced today. After seven-straight weeks of seeing the Florida Gators (34-3, 9-3 SEC) atop the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll, Michigan claimed a majority of first-place votes, with six different schools earning at least one first-place vote. Michigan received nine-of-20 first-place votes, while Florida earned five and Auburn (33-4, 9-3 SEC) with three. Alabama (31-7, 5-4 SEC), Louisiana-Lafayette (29-3, 10-1 Sun Belt) and James Madison (30-2, 6-0 CAA) all garnered one vote each.
Click here to see the complete ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll.
Following a series sweep of Indiana on the road, Michigan claims the No. 1 spot while improving to 5-1 in conference play. Outscoring the Hoosiers 31-9 in the three-game series, the Wolverines had plenty to celebrate, including Head Coach Carol Hutchins earning her 1,458th career win to become the all-time winningest coach in NCAA softball history. Further individual highlights included senior Sierra Romero, who tallied a homer in each game against the Hoosiers, contributing to the team's 11 total in the weekend series at Andy Mohr Field. The Wolverines continue their seven-game stretch on the road when they travel to Lincoln, Neb. to face Nebraska at the Cornhusker's Bowlin Stadium.
Also moving ahead this week is No. 2 Auburn, who swept then-No. 12 Kentucky (31-8, 8-4 SEC) in their on-the-road Southeastern Conference (SEC) series at John Cropp Stadium. Posting their seventh-straight conference win on Sunday after a 3-1 extra-inning victory, the Tigers move into a tie for first place in the SEC standings. Auburn hosts a mid-week game against Troy before welcoming Longwood to Jane B. Moore Field.
For the first time this season, Florida falls two spots in the polls and claims No. 3 after dropping its series to then-No. 7 Alabama at home. Despite holding a three-day attendance record 6,759 fans at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium and splitting the series with a 3-2 victory in game two, the Gators could not withstand the pressure of the Crimson Tide and thus, saw their first SEC series loss more than a year ago. For their efforts, Alabama rose three spots is this week's poll after handing the then-top ranked Gators their first shutout loss of the season in game three.
After winning four-of-five games over the past seven days, Louisiana-Lafayette finds itself at No. 5 this week. Splitting their doubleheader against then-No. 19 Baylor (31-7, 5-0 Big 12) last Tuesday, the Ragin' Cajuns returned home to Lamson Park to face Texas State. Allowing the Bobcats to score their only two runs in game two, Louisiana-Lafayette scored 15 through the weekend en route to securing their series sweep over Texas State. The Ragin' Cajuns will return to the road and begin a stretch of seven-straight games away, starting with three-game series against Georgia State before traveling to No. 3 Florida the following week.
Rounding out the Top 10: No. 6 James Madison (30-2, 6-0 CAA) posted five wins, including two over Virginia and three over Towson; No. 7 Oregon (27-6, 7-2 Pac-12) dropped two spots after dropping its series to then-No. 18 UCLA (22-11-1, 4-3-1 Pac-12); No. 8 Florida State (27-4, 7-1 ACC) holds onto its rank after starting its week with two postponed games and a 1-1 bout with No. 20 Notre Dame (26-6, 5-3 ACC); No. 9 LSU (28-9, 5-7 SEC) moves up one after going head-to-head with then-No.9 Georgia (31-7, 5-4 SEC) last week and winning two games to capture the series; No. 10 Texas A&M (30-6, 5-4 SEC) rejoins the Top 10 after going 3-0 in their weekend series against Arkansas.
Fresno State is the only new team to join the Top 25 this week, claiming No. 25 after winning both of its three-game series' against Mountain West opponents, Boise State and San Diego State. The Bulldogs went 6-0 and is one of three teams in the Top 25 to remain undefeated in conference play. The two other teams include Baylor and James Madison.
Dropping out of this week's poll is Louisville who went 2-2 for the week, losing their Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) series against North Carolina.
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.
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Founded in 1933, the Amateur Softball Association (ASA)/USA Softball is the National Governing Body of 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 2.2 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.
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