Softball Rankings: Week 10
4/12/2011 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 12, 2011
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The Alabama softball team dropped in both polls after being swept by LSU this past weekend. The Crimson Tide checked in at No. 3 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Poll and No. 5 in the USA Today/NFCA Poll. Alabama did not receive a first-place vote in either poll.
The Pac-10 Conference has bragging rights over the SEC as Arizona State (37-4, 4-2 Pac-10) is now the best softball team in the nation, according to the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll released today by the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) of America. The Sun Devils ousted Alabama, who claimed the No. 1 spot the past three weeks, by receiving 10 first-place votes after a 2-1 weekend against then-No. 16 Oregon (30-8, 2-4 Pac-10).
No. 2 Michigan (35-3, 5-1 Big Ten) closed in on the top ranking this week with eight first-place votes after outscoring Purdue, 23-1, in two wins, 13-1 (5), 10-0 (5). Alabama (37-5, 12-4 SEC) fell to No. 3 after suffering its first sweep by LSU since 2004. LSU (25-12, 8-6 SEC) jumped to No. 19 after their historic weekend, receiving votes in last week's poll. The three games took 31 innings of play with LSU wining 2-1 (14), 3-1 (10) and 2-0.
For the first time all season, Texas (34-3, 7-0 Big 12) moves into the top five, securing the No. 4 spot with two first-place votes. Texas, the only remaining undefeated team in the Big 12, pulled off three wins over ranked conference opponents on the week. They defeated then-No.20 Texas A&M, 4-3, and then-No. 13 Nebraska, 1-0, 4-3 (8).
Rounding out the top five are Georgia (35-6, 11-5 SEC), a team that dropped from the No. 2 spot after suffering 5-1 and 9-4 losses to then-No. 8 Tennessee (34-6, 12-4 SEC). The Lady Vols are now ranked sixth.
Along with LSU, Notre Dame (-7, 5-0 Big East) moved into the top 25 after 5-0 weekend including defeating Syracuse, 9-2, 7-4, who has received votes during the season.
After a wild and crazy week that saw 19 teams featured in last week's poll drop at least one game over the past seven days, Arizona State came out on top of the latest USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 poll that was released by the Association on Tuesday.
The Sun Devils (37-4) received 15 of 30 first-place votes, while No. 2 Michigan (35-3) garnered six first-place votes and finished just nine points behind Arizona State. This week's No. 1 ranking marks the first time since the final poll of 2008 that the Sun Devils have topped the weekly rankings and the first time since April 8, 2008, that they have been tops in a regular-season poll.
Also receiving top votes this week were Texas (34-3), who picked up five and moved from fifth to third in the process. Fourth-ranked Georgia (35-6), which fell two spots from second, picked up three first-place votes, while Tennessee (34-6), who moved from ninth to sixth, was the recipient of the remaining first-place vote.
This week's tally of five teams that received first-place votes is tied for the most in the history of the poll and has only happened on three other occasions, with the most recent occurring on Feb. 24, 2008. Of the four times that five teams have received first-place votes in the poll, Arizona State has now been the No. 1 team in three of those polls
Last week's No. 1, Alabama (37-5), finished this week's rankings in fifth after being swept by then-unranked LSU (25-12). LSU was able to turn their sweep of the Crimson Tide into a ticket back into the poll after a two-week absence. The Tigers, who re-entered the poll at 21, were the only team to join the rankings this week, forcing out last week's No. 23, Fresno State (23-11), after just one week in the fray.
