Softball Rankings: Week 10
4/13/2010 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 13, 2010
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The Alabama softball team checked in ranked No.5 in both the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll and USA Today/NFCA Top 25 Poll. The Crimson Tide finished the week a perfect 4-0 after earning a sweep over LSU and Northwestern.
For the 11th consecutive time, Washington (33-3, 5-1 Pac-10) claimed the No. 1 spot in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 poll announced Tuesday by the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) of America. The Huskies have held the top spot since June 9, 2009, just days after winning the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City.
After playing then-No. 5 UCLA in the opening weekend of Pac-10 play, and taking two of three games, the Huskies (33-3, 5-1 Pac-10) were supposed to face their toughest test of the season last week against then No. 2 Arizona (32-7, 2-4 Pac-10). But the Huskies made easy work of the Wildcats, dropping them to No. 3 in the poll with a three-game sweep, 2-1, 7-0 and 9-3, in Seattle.
The Huskies will now travel down to Eugene to face No. 17 Oregon (28-6, 5-1 Pac-10) in a three-game series starting April 16. The Ducks and Huskies are tied for first place with 5-1 records after Oregon earned a three-game sweep over then-No. 15 Cal, now ranked No. 17.
Michigan (30-5, 7-0 Big Ten) improved to No. 2 with two-wins over Indiana, 8-2 and 14-1, and another two over Minnesota, 9-0 and 10-5. Florida (30-4, 12-2 SEC) pulled up to No. 4 by sweeping Arkansas while Alabama (31-9, 12-4 SEC) took the No. 5 ranking. The Tide swept home stands with then-No. 14 LSU (32-9, 11-5), a team that still moved up to No. 13, and Northwestern.
Arizona State (25-6, 4-2 Pac-10) crept from No. 10 to No. 6 by sweeping then-No. 4 UCLA (27-9, 1-5 Pac-10), now the eighth ranked team. Rounding out the top 10 are No. 7 Georgia Tech (35-6, 11-1 ACC), No. 9 Oklahoma State (36-7, 7-0 Big 12), in the top 10 for the first time in the history of the poll, and No. 10 Stanford (30-6, 4-2 Pac-10).
Missouri (27-8, 3-5 Big 12) dropped from No. 8 to No. 14 after two losses to now-No. 15 Texas (34-9, 7-1 Big 12). Dropping out of the top 25 completely was Baylor (22-14, 3-4 Big 12), following a loss to Texas Tech, two to North Texas and another to Kansas. For the 10th time this season, the Washington Huskies are the No. 1 team in the country after earning all 30 first-place votes in the latest USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 poll.
In the rest of the top five, Michigan held on to the second spot for the fourth straight week, while Florida moved up one place from fourth to third. Arizona fell from third to fourth in this week's poll after dropping a series to No. 1 Washington, while Alabama rejoined the top five for the first time since the preseason poll at fifth.
The only team to join the poll this week was Oregon, who swept last week's No. 13 California to debut at No. 23. The Ducks entry into the poll gives the Pac 10 a season-high seven teams in the rankings.
Louisville edged out Hawai'i for the final spot in the week's poll, forcing the Rainbow Wahine out of the rankings after just one week.
