Tennessee collects three votes in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll; prevents Oklahoma from a third sweep of the votes
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OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma Sooners (39-3, 8-1 Big 12) continue their reign atop the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll this week with Tennessee (42-6, 15-3 SEC) closing the gap receiving four of the 20 first-place votes the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) of America and USA Softball announced today. The Sooners, who suffered their first Big 12 Conference loss, received the remaining 16 votes to maintain their No. 1 ranking.
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Click here to see the complete ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25.
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The Sooners took to the road to meet up with No. 7 Texas (39-6, 9-2 Big 12) for a three-game series with the victor coming out of the series with the lead in the Big 12 Conference. In game one, the Sooners jumped on Texas ace Blaire Luna (Austin, Texas) early to come out with a 6-1 win. Game two had the opposite result as Oklahoma fell early to Texas, and despite a last inning rally, fell 4-2 to the Longhorns.  Oklahoma finished the series with a 5-3 win over Texas with the help of Shelby Pendley (Rio Rancho, N.M.), who hit two home runs to secure the win.
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Tennessee tightened their grip on the No. 2 spot this week following their series sweep of Ole Miss. The Lady Vols took game one 12-4 (five innings) and followed with two run-rules: 15-5 (six innings) and 9-1 (five innings). Florida (45-5, 14-4 SEC) rose back to the No. 3 spot this week following an 8-0 (five innings) standalone win over then-No. 23 Florida State (37-15, 16-2 ACC) and a three-game series sweep of Longwood (5-1, 9-5 and 8-0). Also rising in the poll this week is No. 4 Oregon (38-6, 13-2 Pac-12), who collected two wins over Portland State: 5-0 and 8-0 (five innings).
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Arizona State (39-7, 10-5 Pac-12) fell to No. 5 this week after dropping a series to unranked Utah. The Sun Devils suffered back-to-back losses to the Utes, 4-5 (eight innings) and 6-5, before rebounding in game three to finish the series with a 6-4 win. Rounding out the Top 10: No. 6 Alabama (40-7, 12-6 SEC) had a win over Southern Mississippi and went 2-1 with Mississippi State; TNo. 7 Texas was 1-2 against Oklahoma; TNo. 7 Louisville (42-6, 15-1 Big East) collected two wins over Pittsburgh and swept Villanova in their three-game series matchup; No. 9 Michigan (39-7, 16-0 Big 10) kept their Big 10 record flawless after a nine-inning win over Indiana and a series sweep of Iowa; No. 10 California (35-9, 9-6 Pac-12) cruised past Santa Clara and went 2-1 with Oregon State.
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Rejoining the Top 25 this week is No. 23 Georgia (34-15, 11-7), who had a loss to SC Upstate and a series sweep over then-No. 13 Texas A&M (35-12, 6-11 SEC). No. 25 Arkansas (30-17, 8-10 SEC) makes their first appearance in the poll this season after a series win over then-No. 17 Kentucky (34-14, 10-8 SEC). Dropping out is last week’s No. 22 Tulsa (33-13-1, 13-5 C-USA) and TNo. 25 Arizona (28-19, 5-10 Pac-12) and TNo. 25 North Carolina (35-15, 11-5 ACC).
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The ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll is voted on by coaching representatives from 11 Division I Conferences in the 15 ASA/USA Softball Regions as well as members of National and Local media who consistently cover Division I Softball across the country.
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About ASA The Amateur Softball Association, founded in 1933, is the National Governing Body of softball in the United States and a member of the United States Olympic Committee. The ASA has become one of the nation’s largest sports organizations and now sanctions competition in every state through a network of 76 local associations. The ASA has grown from a few hundred teams in the early days to over 210,000 teams today, representing a membership of more than three million. For more information on the ASA, visit http://www.asasoftball.com/.  About USA Softball USA Softball is the brand created, operated and owned by the ASA that links the USA Men’s, Women’s, Junior Boys’ and Junior Girls’ National Team programs together. USA Softball is responsible for training, equipping and promoting these four National Teams to 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 including the last seven consecutive as well as claimed five World Cup of Softball titles. For more information about USA Softball, please visit http://www.usasoftball.com/.
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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 23rd year, the top eight college teams in the nation will head to Oklahoma City and complete for a National Championship title. Last year, over 75,000 fans attended the WCWS. Experience It Live May 30 to June
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Codi Warren
Marketing and Communications Coordinator
Amateur Softball Association of America/USA Softball
Office 405.425.3431 | Cell 405. 420. 2817
