Top-ranked Gators tighten hold on top spot in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll

February 25, 2014

---

OKLAHOMA CITY — Despite a rain-filled weekend as host of the Lipton Invitational, the Florida Gators (16-0) put together another undefeated performance to keep their spot atop the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) of America and USA Softball announced today.  Florida tallied 15 first-place votes en route to their third-consecutive week atop the poll.  Also securing first-place votes are this week's No. 2 Tennessee (13-0), who grabbed four votes, and No. 3 Arizona State (17-0), who earned the remaining vote.   

 

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

 

The Gators pitching staff continued to dominate from the circle this week, allowing just three runs to score while the powerful Florida offense put up 32 runs.  Florida started the week with a standalone game against Jacksonville and came away with a 6-0 shutout win before taking on Troy and Indiana at the Lipton Invitational.  The Gators won two games Friday night defeating Troy 3-0 and Indiana 3-1 before sweeping another doubleheader the next day against Troy, 12-2, and Indiana, 8-0 ( 5 innings).  Inclement weather proved to be a burden as heavy rains forced the remaining two matchups against Coastal Carolina and Georgia Southern to be cancelled.

 

Tennessee reclaimed the No. 2 spot this week after capturing two wins against ranked opponents at the Mary Nutter Classic in Palm Springs, Calif.  The Lady Vols opened the tournament with a 5-3 win over then-No. 12 Nebraska and followed with a 5-1 win over Oregon State.  In their final day in Palm Springs, Tennessee edged past then-No. 11 Stanford 3-1 before capping off the weekend with a 5-4, come-from-behind win over Fresno State.  Arizona State also rose in the ranks this week to No. 3 following a 6-0 performance at home last week.  The Sun Devils began with an 8-0 (5 inning) shutout over Drake before opening play as hosts of the Diamond Devil Invitational.  The Sun Devils strung together a 12-1 (5 inning) win over Seton Hall, a 3-0 shutout over Boston College, and an 11-1 (5 inning) win over Idaho State before finishing the weekend with a pair of wins over Drake (9-1, 5 inning) and Idaho State (13-4, 5 inning).

 

Michigan (12-2) shifted up one spot this week to No. 4 after going 5-0 at the FAU Kickoff Classic in Boca Raton, Fla.  The Wolverines picked up wins against Kent State (7-1 and 1-0, 9 innings), Pittsburgh (9-0, 5 innings), then-No. 6 Kentucky (3-0) and Florida Atlantic (1-0).  No. 5 UCLA (16-0) earned their highest ranking this year and round out the Top 5.  The Bruins picked up five wins at the Mary Nutter Classic, including three wins over ranked opponents.  UCLA edged past No. 13 Oklahoma 3-2 and then-No. 18 Missouri 4-3 and handed then-No. 12 Nebraska a 6-2 loss.  

 

Rounding out the Top 10: No. 6 Oregon (14-1) continued their winning streak with a 5-0 showing at the Mary Nutter Classic that included wins over then-No. 23 LSU and then-No. 24 Notre Dame; No. 7 Washington (13-2) fell five spots this week after suffering losses to then-No. 23 LSU and Northwestern;  No. 8 Kentucky (13-2) moved down two spots after a 3-2 performance at the FAU Kickoff Classic; No. 9 Arizona (13-1) made the biggest jump for the second-consecutive week with a 4-1 outing at the Mary Nutter Classic; No. 10 Alabama (12-3) picked up wins over Virginia Tech and UCF before falling to McNeese State 5-3.

 

A lot of shifting occurred outside the Top 10 this week with several teams moving up and down the poll.  No. 11 Florida State (13-1) came up two points shy of holding their top-10 spot from last week's poll despite a perfect 3-0 weekend at home while No. 14 Stanford (14-3) fell in this week's poll after losing three games to ranked opponents.  Moving up this week is No. 12 Baylor (12-3), who picked up a 3-2 win over Missouri and handed Stanford their first loss in a 7-1 matchup.  No. 21 LSU (12-5) also rose this week after a 5-2 week which included two wins over higher-ranked opponents.  The Tigers handed Washington their first loss of the season with a 6-3 win and upset Stanford 5-3.

 

Dropping out of the Top 25 are last week's No. 25 Texas (8-9) who went 2-3 at the Mary Nutter Classic  The Longhorns suffered losses to UNLV (3-2), then-No. 2 Washington (3-2) and California (5-2) and picked up wins over Cal Poly (13-7) and Fresno State (5-0).  Taking the place of Texas this week is No. 24 Arkansas (13-3), who makes their first appearance in the Top 25 this year.  The Razorbacks outscored opponents 77- 13 in a 6-0 outing last week, including four victories via run-rule.

The ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll is voted on by coaching representatives from 10 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 165,000 teams today, representing a membership of more than 2.5 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 the 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 six 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 24^th year, the top eight college teams in the nation will head to Oklahoma City and complete for a National Championship title. Last year, over 70,000 fans attended the WCWS. Experience It Live May 29 to June 4 in Oklahoma City. Tickets for the 2014 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