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February2015

Gators tighten hold on top spot in ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 after perfect showing at Aquafina Invitational

February 24, 2015

Oklahoma City, OK

Gators tighten hold on top spot in ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 after perfect showing at Aquafina Invitational

 

OKLAHOMA CITY — After a perfect 5-0 record this past week, the Florida Gators (16-0) remain No. 1 in the nation in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25, the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) of America and USA Softball announced today.  Claiming 19-of-20 first-place votes, the Gators continued their dominance since pre-season, claiming first place atop the poll while LSU (16-0) claimed the final vote en route to climbing the poll to the No. 7 spot. 

 

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

 

As the defending National Champions, the Gators continued to show their dominance on the diamond while playing host to the Aquafina Invitational. They went 5-0 last week with wins against Liberty, Illinois State, RV Kansas, and Mercer twice. The Gators made history twice as Aleshia Ocasio (St. Cloud, Fla.) pitched a one-hit complete game against Illinois State in a 4-1 win, the 18th in program history and senior Briana Little (Middleburg, Fla.) powered in nine RBI and three home runs in the 20-3 (five inning) win against Mercer. It was the first three-homer game in Gator history and a new single-game RBI record. The Gators are gearing up for a full week, highlighted by games against now-No. 15 UCF (12-1) and No. 2 Oregon (14-1) at the San Diego Classic in San Diego, Calif.

 

Standing pat at No. 2 for the third-consecutive week, the Oregon Ducks had a full week playing in nine games during a tour of Texas claiming the win in all but one game. They began their week last Tuesday in a double-header at Houston, winning 2-0 and 10-5. The Ducks continued their Texas road trip by traveling to College Station, Texas, beating Sam Houston State 14-4 (five inning) and No. 22 Texas A&M (12-4) 5-1. Oregon completed their Texas roadtrip at the Baylor Invitational in Waco, Texas where they would face two ranked opponents. The Ducks won four out of five, defeating then-No. 11 Baylor (12-2) 4-1, Abiliene Christian 8-0, then-No. 25 Tulsa (9-5) 4-2 and North Texas 9-0 to earn their spot in the Championship Game. Oregon saw its 14-game win streak snapped by Baylor after Christy Lisenby (Flower Mound, Texas) drove in the winning run for the walk-off victory.

 

Michigan (13-1) rose to No. 3 this week, after going 5-0 at the Easton Bama Bash in Tuscaloosa, Ala. The Wolverines defeated the Crimson Tide twice on their home field, 8-2 and 4-1, extending their win streak to 13 games. Led by right fielder Kelsey Susalla (Garden City, Mich.), who posted a .412 average and seven RBI while earning Tournament MVP, the Wolverines also posted wins over Lipscomb, 7-1 and 13-1 (five inning), and RV James Madison, 10-0 (five inning).

 

The Oklahoma Sooners (12-3) fell one spot this week to No. 4 after going 3-2 at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in Palm Springs, Calif. The Sooners were featured in three Top 10 showdowns against then-No.10 Arizona (11-3), then-No.7 Georgia (12-2)  and No.9 Kentucky (11-3). In their first game, the Sooners fell to Arizona 5-4 after a walk off solo home run by Kellie Fox (San Diego, Calif.) but rebounded against RV San Diego State, 10-1 (five inning) before falling to Georgia, 6-5. The Sooners finished up their weekend at the Mary Nutter Classic with a wins over Kentucky, 7-3, and Loyola Marymount, 9-0 (five inning).

 

Alabama (13-3) rounds out the Top 5 after a 3-1 performance as hosts of the Easton Bama Bash. The Crimson Tide fell twice to now-No. 3 Michigan, marking their first home opener loss since 2010, while taking wins over James Madison, 6-4, and Lipscomb 6-1.

 

Rounding out the Top 10: No. 6 Louisiana Lafayette (14-0) remained perfect following five wins as hosts of the Ragin Cajun Invitational; No. 7 LSU (16-0) is new to the Top 10 following their undefeated performance at the Mary Nutter Classic; No. 8 Georgia fell one spot after a 2-2 week; No. 9 Kentucky held their spot in the poll after going 5-1 at the Mary Nutter Classic; No. 10 Baylor also joins the Top 10 after posting two wins over Top 25 ranked teams.

 

Making the biggest jump in the poll this week is No. 7 LSU, who rose eight spots this week to join the Top 10 for the first time since the 2013 season while No. 12 Florida State (10-5) fell four spots after dropping two games this week against then-No. 13 Tennessee (11-3) and then-No. 20 California (13-1).

 

New to the poll this week is No. 25 Kansas (14-1) who’s only loss of the season came at the hands of No. 1 Florida, while last week's No. 25 Tulsa dropped out of the Top 25 following losses Oregon and Baylor.

 

The ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll is voted on by coaching representatives of 10 Division I Conferences in the 15 ASA/USA Softball Regions as well as members of the 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 74 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 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 and have claimed eight 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 25th year, the top eight college teams in the nation will head to Oklahoma City and complete for a National Championship title. Last year, nearly 70,000 fans attended the WCWS. Experience It Live May 28 to June 3 in Oklahoma City. Tickets for the 2015 NCAA WCWS are on sale now, click here to purchase your tickets and make a date with champions!

 

 

Nick Dorety

ASA/USA Softball

Marketing & Communications Coordinator

2801 NE 50th Street

Oklahoma  City, OK 73111

 

405-425-3422 - work

405-757-5306 - cell

ndorety@softball.org

 

 

 

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