Softball Rankings: Week 8
3/29/2011 12:00:00 AM | Softball
March 29, 2011
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The Alabama softball team remained number one in both polls for the second consecutive week. The Crimson Tide received 19 of the 20 first-place votes in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll and earned 23 of 30 first-place votes in the latest USA Today/NFCA Top 25 poll, as released on Tuesday.
Opening week seven of the season on March 22, the Crimson Tide fell 4-1 to then-No.11 Tennessee after defeating the Lady Vols 9-5 in game one of the doubleheader. The split with Alabama, a team that swept Arkansas over the weekend, moved Tennessee (27-5, 5-3 SEC) back into the top 10 in the ESPN.com poll. Behind a 4-1 week, which included a three-game sweep over conference foe South Carolina, the Lady Vols are No. 10 in the nation.
Georgia (27-4, 8-3 SEC) jumped from No. 4 to second following a three-game sweep of then-No. 2 Florida (30-4, 7-3 SEC), marking the first time the Gators have been swept in a three-game home series since 2006. Michigan (31-2, 2-0 Big Ten) nabbed a first-place vote but stayed at No. 3 after beating Northwestern 2-1 and 7-4. Arizona State (33-2, 0-0 Pac-10) improved one spot to No. 4 while the Gators rounded out the top five.
Following the opening series of Big 12 play, No. 14 Oklahoma (27-9, 1-1 Big 12) fell seven spots. The Sooners lost 1-0 to in-state rival Tulsa before losing its first game in conference play to then-No. 18 Nebraska (27-4, 1-1 Big 12). Oklahoma won the second game 6-3. With the series split, Nebraska improved to No. 16 in the poll.
After receiving votes last week, No. 24 Georgia Tech (28-5, 3-0 ACC) cracked the top 25 after going 5-0 on the week including a three-game sweep of ACC opponent North Carolina. Making room for Georgia Tech to enter was the exit of LSU (18-12) from the top 25.
The Pac-10 Conference still lays claim to the most schools ranked in the top 25 with seven. Pac-10 play starts on April 1 with Arizona State at No. 8 California (21-3, 0-0 Pac-10), No. 7 Arizona (29-6, 0-0 Pac-10) at No. 12 Stanford (22-4, 0-0 Pac-10), No. 15 Oregon (28-4, 0-0 Pac-10) at No. 6 Washington (25-2, 0-0 Pac-10) and unranked Oregon State at No. 13 UCLA (21-5, 0-0 Pac-10).
The Crimson Tide (33-2) split a midweek SEC doubleheader at No. 11 Tennessee. However, they were able to bounce back later in the week by sweeping a three-game set with Arkansas to finish the five-game stretch at 4-1.
As a result, the Crimson Tide garnered 23 of the 30 first-place votes in the new NFCA poll, while Georgia (27-4) moved from third to second and picked up six first-place votes. The remaining first-place vote this week went to No. 4 Arizona State (33-2), marking the first time the Sun Devils have received a vote for the top spot since February of 2009.
Michigan (31-2) moved up one spot from fourth to third this week, while Florida (30-4) dropped three spots to fifth after being swept by Georgia to round out the top five.
Only one team fell out of favor with the voters this week, as LSU (18-12) dropped out of the poll for the first time this season. New to the latest edition of the poll is No. 25 Georgia Tech (28-5), who returns to the fray after a four-week absence.
