FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 21, 2017

 

Florida State earns first-ever No. 1 ranking in ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 Collegiate Poll

 

OKLAHOMA CITY — Another perfect weekend has earned the Florida State (10-0) Seminoles their first-ever No. 1 ranking in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll, USA Softball announced today.  Starting the 2017 season by outscoring opponents 67-5, Florida State garnered 15-of-20 first places votes to secure the top spot, while Auburn (9-1) snagged four votes and Florida (10-1) captured the remaining one vote.

 

Click here to see the complete ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll

 

Continuing their perfect season with a mid-week 5-0 shutout win against Florida A&M University, the Seminoles faced stiff competition as hosts of the ACC/Big Ten Softball Challenge.  Opening the tournament with a 3-2 win over Northwestern, the Seminoles would claim three additional shutout victories through the remainder of the weekend.  Notching another win over Northwestern, 7-0, Florida State also picked up 9-0 (five inning) and 8-0 wins over Nebraska.  Florida State will now head west to the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic, where they will face four, Top 25 ranked opponents.  

 

Holding on at No. 2 this week is Auburn, who went undefeated on the week at home.  Picking up a 4-3, extra-inning win over SIU-Edwardsville to start the week, Auburn then hosted the Plainsman Invitational, where the Tigers notched wins over Creighton, SIU-Edwardsville, Evansville and Mercer.  It was a great weekend for the Auburn bats, as the team outscored opponents 40-5.  The Tigers will continue play at home as hosts of this weekend’s Tiger Classic, which the team will close out against No. 15 James Madison (8-1). 

 

Dropping two spots to No. 3 is Florida, who went 5-1 on the week.  Picking up a 6-0 win over Jacksonville earlier in the week, the Gators claimed wins over Florida A&M University, Northwestern State and Florida International while dropping a 4-2 decision to Maryland as hosts of the Aquafina Invitational.  Florida will travel to Orlando, Fla. this weekend for the Citrus Classic, where they are slated to face Syracuse, Fordham, Liberty University, Elon and Lehigh.

 

Rising one spot to No. 4 is UCLA (10-1), who opened their week against then-No. 23 Kentucky (5-4).  The Bruins and Wildcats split the series as each team claimed a game in their mid-week doubleheader before closing out the weekend at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic.  UCLA went undefeated at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic, posting a 3-1 win over Cal Poly, a 1-0 win over UCF and a 9-1 (six inning) win over UC Davis before capping off the tournament with a 7-1 win over Liberty University.  UCLA is slated for another tough schedule at this weekend’s Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic, where the Bruins will face four, Top 25 ranked opponents.

 

Closing out the Top 5 is Oklahoma (6-2) who went undefeated at the Houston Classic in Houston, Texas.  The Sooners opened the weekend with a 14-0 (five inning) shutout over Incarnate World and followed suit with an 11-8 win over Ole Miss.  Closing out the tournament with a pair of extra-inning thrillers against hosts Houston, the Sooners will also head west to the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic, where they will square off against two, Top 25 ranked foes. 

 

Rounding out the Top 10: No. 6 Oregon (9-0) remained undefeated on the season after going 3-0 at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic, including a 5-4 win over then-No. 23 Kentucky; No. 7 Washington (7-1) had a 4-0 week against Long Beach State before claiming an additional three wins at the Campbell/Cartier Classic; No. 8 LSU (9-1) fell one spot this week despite a 5-0 week at home as hosts of the Purple and Gold Challenge; No. 9 Arizona (11-0) joined the Top 10 for the first time this season after a 6-0 week as hosts of the Wildcat Invitational; No. 10 Alabama (7-2) fell five spots this week after dropping two games to then-No. 18 Louisiana (6-3).

 

The ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll is voted on by coaching representatives of 10 Division I Conferences in the 10 USA Softball Regions as well as members of the National and Local media who consistently cover Division I Softball across the country.

 

About USA Softball
USA Softball is a 501(c)(3) not-for profit organization headquartered in Oklahoma City, Okla., and is designated as the National Governing Body (NGB) of Softball in the United States and a member of the United States Olympic Committee. One of the nation’s largest sports organizations, 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 150,000 teams today, representing a membership of more than 2 million.  USA Softball is dedicated to providing people of all ages the opportunity to play the game they love at a variety of levels by offering recreational, league, tournament and competitive play for fast pitch, slow pitch and modified pitch.  USA Softball annually conducts thousands of tournaments throughout the country including over 100 National Championships.  The USA Softball umpire program is among the nation’s largest and are widely known as the best trained umpires in the game.

As the NGB for the sport of softball, USA Softball is responsible for training, equipping and promoting the six USA Softball National Teams that compete in events such as the Olympics, Pan American Games, World Championships and other international and domestic events. For more information on USA Softball, including its founding and history as the Amateur Softball Association of America (ASA), please visit, www.USASoftball.com.

 

About the NCAA Women’s College World Series 
ASA Hall of Fame Stadium – OGE Energy Field serves as the home to the NCAA Women’s College World Series (WCWS). For the 27^th year, the top eight college teams in the nation will head to Oklahoma City and compete for a national championship. Last year, over 78,000 fans attended the WCWS. Be there to Share The Experience with softball fans from across the country June 1-7  in Oklahoma City. Tickets for the 2017 NCAA WCWS are on sale now, click here to purchase your tickets and secure your championship experience!

 

 

Codi Warren I Managing Director of Communications

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