FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 2, 2017

 

Regular season SEC Championship keeps Florida atop Week 12 ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll

 

OKLAHOMA CITY — After clinching its third-straight Southeastern Conference (SEC) regular season Championship, Florida (46-4) remains the No. 1 team in the country in this week’s ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll, USA Softball announced today. Florida captured a majority of first-place votes with 13, while the remaining seven votes went to No. 2 Florida State (47-3-1) who earned four and No. 4 Minnesota (48-3) who claimed three.

 

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

 

After going 2-1 on the week versus then-No. 8 Tennessee (42-8), Florida improved to 46-4 on the season and continues to maintain its No. 1 ranking for the third straight week. Producing back-to-back shutouts for the first time in program history before dropping the series finale 5-1.  With the wins, the Gators clinched their third straight SEC regular season championship, going down in the books as the third program to win three-straight. Florida resumes action Wednesday for a midweek game against in-state rival, No. 2 Florida State, before hosting North Texas for a three-game series at home and concluding the week with a solo game against Florida A&M.

 

Florida State began the week by securing its series sweep over Louisville before returning home to host North Carolina. The Seminoles outscored the Tar Heels 17-3 to claim the series sweep and close out a perfect regular season in Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) play, marking the first time since 2003 that any school finished ACC play with an undefeated record. Florida State will face Florida for a solo matchup Wednesday before traveling to Eugene, Ore. for a three-game series against No. 5 Oregon (41-6) over the weekend.

 

No. 3 Arizona (47-5) welcomed No. 23 Arizona State (28-16) for a Pac-12 matchup at Hillenbrand Stadium. The Wildcats claimed a 4-3 win in the series opener Friday before dropping a 5-2 decision to the Sun Devils the following day. Behind a strong pitching staff and offensive power, Arizona went on to collect an 8-0 (five innings) victory to earn the series win. The Wildcats travel to No. 12 UCLA (37-12) this weekend where they will conclude the regular season at Easton Stadium.

 

Minnesota rises one spot to No. 4 following a 5-0 week in which the Gophers earned a midweek doubleheader sweep over North Dakota State before outscoring Purdue 29-3 and claiming three-straight victories over the Boilmakers at Jane Sage Cowles Stadium. Minnesota will close out their regular season on the road against Penn State this weekend where the will look to add onto their 19-game win streak, currently tied for longest in program history.

 

Oregon regains Top 5 status after earning their fifth-straight series sweep over in-state rival Oregon State. Outscoring the Beavers 22-2, the Ducks captured 8-0 (five innings), 7-2 and 7-0 wins to improve to 41-6 on the season and 14-6 in Pac-12 Conference play. Oregon will play host to Florida State in a Top 5, non-conference, three-game series at Jane Sanders Stadium.

 

Rounding out the Top 10: Texas A&M (41-7) dropped to No. 6 this week after going 1-2 on the week in their SEC matchup against then-No. 19 Kentucky (34-14); Oklahoma (44-8) remains at No. 7 following their series sweep over Texas Tech; No. 8 Washington (37-10) rises one spot after earning a series sweep over then-No. 24 California (27-19) on the road; Tennessee drops one spot after hosting the top-ranked Gators and producing a 1-2 record for the week; No. 10 Auburn (43-8) stays within the Top 10 after going 4-0 on the week, including a series sweep over Mississippi State.

 

New to the poll this week is No. 24 Tulsa (36-13) who claimed a series sweep over East Carolina to secure the outright regular season title for the American Athletic Conference (AAC), as well as No. 25 Marshall (38-7) who completed their three-game Conference USA sweep over Middle Tennessee. Dropping out of the Top 25 is last week’s No. 24 California, who suffered a series sweep at the hands of Washington, and last week’s No. 25 Georgia (31-20) who went 1-2 in their three-game series against South Carolina.

 

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 
USA Softball 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!

 

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