Oregon stakes a claim on No. 1 spot in this week's ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll

May 7, 2013

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 7, 2013

                                                                                             

Oregon stakes a claim on No. 1 spot in this week’s ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll; steal one vote away from Oklahoma

 

OKLAHOMA CITY — Thirteen weeks of play have yet to produce a new No. 1 team in the country as the Oklahoma Sooners (44-4, 12-2 Big 12) remain the top team in this week’s ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll. The Oregon Ducks (45-7, 18-3 Pac-12) made their move on the top spot, cruising past Tennessee (43-9, 16-6 SEC) to land a No. 2  rank after sweeping Oregon State to capture their program’s first regular season Pac-12 Conference title.  For their efforts, the Ducks garnered one first-place vote, while Oklahoma secured the remaining 19 votes.

 

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

 

The Sooners faced unranked Kansas for a Big 12 Conference match-up and, despite Mother Nature’s attempts to rain-out the series, posted a 1-1 record. In game one, the defending USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Keilani Ricketts (San Jose, Calif.) set a season high with 17 strikeouts and improved to 25-1 on the year en route to a 4-2 Sooner victory. In game two, however, the Sooners were shutout for just the second time this season and fell to the Jayhawks 2-0.  This marked Oklahoma’s first loss to an unranked team since April 6, 2012.

 

No. 2 Oregon made their highest appearance in the Collegiate Top 25 this week following a flawless 5-0 performance, including two wins over Seattle (4-0, 6-4) and a series sweep of Oregon State (2-1, 11-0 and 8-0).  Florida remains the No. 3 team in the country despite suffering a loss to unranked South Carolina in their series finale.  The Gators took game one 5-0 and game two 3-2 before falling 2-1 to the Gamecocks.

 

Tennessee fell two spots to No. 4 this week after dropping two to then-No. 11 Missouri (33-10, 15-8 SEC).  The Lady Vols fell 2-0 in the series opener, bounced back with a 10-1 (five inning) run-rule of the Tigers in game two, and dropped game three by a 12-8 (six inning) decision.  For their efforts, Missouri rose four spots to No. 7.  Arizona State (43-9, 14-7 Pac-12) comes in at No. 5 this week despite a 1-2 record against unranked Arizona. The Sun Devils were handed back-to-back losses (10-9, 6-4) by the Wildcats before rallying for a 7-6 win in game three.

 

Rounding out the Top 10: No. 6 Texas (43-8, 13-4 Big 12) held onto their spot in the poll this week despite a 1-2 record against unranked Oklahoma State; No. 7 Missouri collected two wins over then-No. 2 Tennessee; No. 8 Michigan (44-9, 20-2 Big 10) rose two spots this week after sweeping Northwestern and captured the regular season Big 10 title; No. 9 LSU (40-13, 15-8 SEC) fell one spot in the poll after posting a 0-2 record against then-No. 24 Georgia (37-18, 14-9 SEC); No. 10 Alabama (41-12, 13-11 SEC) dropped two spots after falling twice to then-No. 19 Kentucky (38-17, 13-11 SEC).

 

Rejoining the Top 25 this week is No. 25 Tulsa (41-13-1, 19-5 Conference USA) while South Florida (40-14, 18-3 Big East) dropped out.

 

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.

 

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/.

 

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 5 in Oklahoma City. Tickets for the 2013 NCAA WCWS are on sale now, click here to purchase your tickets and make a date with champions!

 

 

Codi Warren

Marketing and Communications Coordinator

Amateur Softball Association of America/USA Softball

Office 405.425.3431 | Cell 405. 420. 2817