Oregon Ducks reclaim top spot in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll
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OKLAHOMA CITY — Following a convincing Pac-12 Conference series sweep over the weekend, the Oregon Ducks (44-5, 19-2 Pac-12) have once again reclaimed the top spot in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll. The Ducks captured nine-of-20 first-place votes, taking over the No. 1 spot from Florida (49-5, 18-5 SEC), who despite getting 11-of-20 first-place votes falls to No. 2 this week. Â
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Click here to see the complete ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll.
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En route to reclaiming the No. 1 spot, Oregon hosted then-No. 18 California (35-16, 7-14 Pac-12) for their final home games of the season. The Ducks bats were alive in the series, claiming two wins via run-rule and outscoring the Bears 31-3 while extending their win-streak to 14 games. Oregon looks to protect that win streak this week in their final regular season games at No. 18 Arizona (37-15, 12-9 Pac-12).
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The No. 2 Gators traveled to Columbia, Mo. for their final regular season series against No. 13 Missouri (38-13, 14-10 SEC) this past week. In game one, Florida secured a 7-6 victory in the seventh inning before holding off the Tigers late rally in game two to earn a 9-6 win to secure the series victory. In their final meeting, Florida fell in extra innings to Missouri 3-2 (eight inning). Despite the loss, the Gators secured the Southeastern Conference (SEC) regular season championship earlier in the day following then-No. 8 Auburn’s (47-8, 19-5 SEC) loss to then-No. 5 LSU (43-10, 14-9 SEC). Florida will travel this week to Baton Rouge, La. for the SEC Tournament, where the Gators look to reclaim the SEC Tournament Championship.
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Michigan (48-6, 21-2 Big 10) stands pat at No. 3 after they continued to show their dominance this past week, sweeping Penn State with all three of the games determined via run-rule. The Wolverines outscored the Nittany Lions 27-3 over the weekend, while also claiming the Big Ten regular season title outright. Michigan will travel to Columbus, Ohio this week in the hopes of also claiming the Big 10 Tournament Championship.
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Oklahoma (45-7, 14-2 Big 12) held on to the No. 4 spot this week following a 3-0 performance in non-conference play. In a standalone midweek game at North Texas, the Sooners secured the 6-2 come from behind victory behind the bat of Lauren Chamberlain (Trabuco Canyon, Calif.), who notched a grand slam to give the Sooners the win. With the grand slam, Chamberlain cemented her place atop the all-time NCAA career home run list with 91 career home runs. Additionally, Oklahoma defeated Utah Valley twice by run-rule last weekend by scores of 13-0 (five innings) and 14-0 (five innings).
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Rejoining the Top 5 this week is Alabama (41-11, 17-7 SEC), who completed their SEC regular season with a sweep at Arkansas. Â The Crimson Tide used their high-caliber offense to secure two decisive victories over the Razorbacks in the first two games of the series, putting up 9-1 and 14-2 wins before edging out Arkansas 1-0 in the series finale.
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Rounding out the Top 10: Auburn rose two spots to No. 6 this week following their series win over then-No. 5 LSU; No. 7 UCLA (44-8, 18-3 Pac-12) held their spot in the polls after a 4-0 week in conference play, including a series sweep of then-No. 17 Arizona; LSU fell three spots to No. 8 this week after dropping two games to Auburn; Minnesota (46-8, 20-3 Big 10) went 5-0 in Big 10 conference play last week to keep their spot at No. 9; Florida State (42-12, 20-3 ACC) holds on to the No. 10 spot this week after posting two wins on the road. Â
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Making the biggest jump this week to their highest rank ever in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 is No. 17 James Madison (44-6, 19-0 CAA), who rose three spots following another flawless week of play. Making the biggest fall this week is both LSU and No. 24 Kentucky (29-23, 5-19 SEC), who each fell three spots in the poll this week following SEC series losses.
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No. 25 Texas A&M (38-17, 12-12 SEC) rejoins the Top 25 this week after a 4-0 week of play while last week's No. 25 South Alabama (35-10, 16-4 Sun Belt) fell out of the Top 25 after dropping a 6-3 decision to Troy.
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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/USA SoftballÂ
Founded in 1933, the Amateur Softball Association (ASA)/USA Softball is the National Governing Body Softball in the United States and a member of the United States Olympic Committee. One of the nation’s largest sports organizations, ASA/USA Softball sanctions competition in every state through a network of 74 local associations and 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. ASA/USA is responsible for training, equipping and promoting the six USA Softball National Teams that 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 as well as claimed eight World Cup of Softball titles. For more information about ASA/USA Softball, please visit http://www.asausasoftball.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
