FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 3, 2015
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Winning streak continues for the Gators, the No. 1 team in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25
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OKLAHOMA CITY — For a fourth-consecutive week the Florida Gators (21-0) remain the No. 1 team in the country following another flawless week of action the Amateur Softball Association (ASA)/USA Softball announced today. With 19-of-20 first-place votes being awarded to the Gators, LSU (21-0) also earned one first place vote for the second-consecutive week as they continued to climb the poll to No. 4.
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Click here to see the complete ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll.
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Extending their winning streak to 21 games, the Gators were tested for the top spot by two Top 25 ranked teams, once at home and once on the road at the San Diego Classic. In their first contest of the week, Florida was tested in a 2-1 win over in-state rival No. 15 UCF (15-3) before heading west to San Diego, Calif. In their second-straight Top 25 matchup, the Gators battled it out with the then-No. 2 Oregon Ducks (16-2). The No. 1 and No. 2 showdown lived up to the hype as the game turned into a pitcher's duel between two southpaws, Florida's Delanie Gourley (Lakeside, Calif.) and Oregon's Cheridan Hawkins (Anderson, Calif.). The game remained scoreless through the first two innings before a passed ball plated the first run of the game for Florida, who tacked on an additional two runs in the sixth to give them the 3-0 win. Florida also picked up three additional wins on the weekend, a 6-1 decision over Cal Poly, a 9-0 (five inning) shutout over UC Davis and an 8-0 (five inning) shutout over San Diego.
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The Michigan Wolverines (18-1) continued their rise in the polls, jumping one spot to land at No. 2 this week after sweeping the ASU Louisville Slugger Invitational in Tempe, Ariz. Outscoring opponents 57-12, Michigan brought their offense to the desert, capturing three run-rule wins over opponents en route to a 5-0 showing. Defeating Toledo 20-5 (five inning) in their first contest of the invitational, Michigan then squared off against then-No. 21 Arizona State (15-7) in a 7-5 decision for the Wolverines. Two back-to-back shutout victories later, a 15-0 (five inning) win over Toledo and a 9-0 (five inning) win over Binghamton, Michigan and Arizona State met for the second time with Michigan capturing the 6-2 win.
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Falling one spot this week to No. 3 is Oregon who went 2-1 at the San Diego Classic in San Diego, Calif. The Ducks split their opening day of the classic, posting an 8-5 win over St. John's before falling to the top-ranked Gators 3-0. In their final game of the weekend, Oregon cruised to a 7-3 win over host San Diego State.
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Joining the Top 5 for the first time this season is LSU, who climbed three spots to No. 4 this week after hosting the Purple & Gold Classic in Baton Rouge, La. LSU continued their team's record start, which now stands at 21 games, in a strong showing in which the Tigers claimed run-rule wins in all but one game this past weekend. LSU blanked Stephen F. Austin twice, 9-0 (five inning) and 14-0 (five inning), defeated Ball State 7-3, posted a 12-4 (six inning) win over Florida Atlantic and also took a 15-1 (five inning) decision over Northwestern State.
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Two teams are tied at the No. 5 spot this week as both Alabama (15-4) and Oklahoma (14-3) maintained their Top 5 ranking. Alabama (15-4) hosted then-No. 6 Louisiana-Lafayette (15-2) in the Easton Crimson Clash in Tuscaloosa, Ala., claiming the series win after going 2-1 against the Ragin Cajun's. In their first meeting, Alabama put together a 5-1 win behind the arm of Sydney Littlejohn (Rusk, Texas), who held batters to just three hits, handing Louisiana-Lafayette their first loss of the season. Louisiana-Lafayette rallied in game two, edging the Crimson Tide 2-1 as Samantha Walsh (Ingleside, Texas) crushed a solo home run and an RBI single in the upset win. The final game of the series was claimed in walk-off fashion by Alabama who took the 3-2 win after a sac-fly by Haylie McCleney (Morris, Ala.). Oklahoma went 2-0 last week in Houston, Texas as the pitching staff silenced opponents with two shutout wins. In their first game, the Sooners rolled past IPFW 5-0 before shutting down North Texas 9-0 (five inning). Inclement weather canceled the final two contests for the Sooners.
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Rounding out the Top 10: Â No. 7 Louisiana-Lafayette suffered their first losses of the season at the hands of the Alabama Crimson Tide; No. 8 Georgia (17-2) went undefeated in Orlando, Fla. while outscoring opponents 36-2; No. 9 Kentucky (13-3) held their spot in the poll after a 2-0 outing in Chattanooga, Tenn.;Â Baylor (12-2) remains the No. 10 team this week after a week off of action.
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The Top 25 remains unchanged this week as no new teams entered the poll and no teams dropped out. Making the biggest fall in the polls is last week's No. 11 Minnesota (14-4), who went 1-3 at the Citrus Classic in Orlando, Fla.  Falling to No. 17, the Gophers posted a 5-0 win over RV Mississippi State before dropping their final games of the tournament to three unranked teams. California (17-1) made the biggest jump, rising four spot to No. 14 this week after a perfect 4-0 outing at the Hawaii Spring Fling in Honolulu, Hawaii.
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This week will feature another round of Top 25 action as seven ranked teams will head to Fullerton, Calif. for the Judi Garman Classic. The Top 3 teams in the country will battle it out for the top spot in addition to Baylor, No. 12 Arizona (17-3), No. 18 Auburn (21-1) and No. 23 Arizona State.
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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.
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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 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/.
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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/.
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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 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!
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Codi Warren
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Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications
Amateur Softball Association of America/USA Softball
Office 405.425.3431 | Cell 405. 420. 2817
