Softball Rankings: Week 12
4/26/2011 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 26, 2011
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The Alabama softball team moves to No. 6 in the rankings in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll and No. 7 in the USA Today/NFCA poll. Arizona State moves back into the top spot in both polls for the second time this season, as announced by both organizations Tuesday.
Arizona State, with 20 first-place votes, returned to the top ranking in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 poll for the second time this season, the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) of America announced today, after a historic weekend which saw the Sun Devils sweep then-No. 7 Arizona for the first time in program history. On April 12, Arizona State (42-5, 9-3 Pac-10) was also ranked No. 1 in the nation, their first top ranking of the year.
Since construction of Arizona's Hillenbrand Stadium in 1993, the Sun Devils had only won four times total in Tucson before winning three straight in Week 11, sweeping the Wildcats 4-0, 13-10 and 8-3. With the sweep, the Sun Devils moved past No. 2 Michigan (42-4, 10-2 Big Ten). The Wolverines fell from the top after a 3-1 weekend, which included a 4-2 loss to Iowa.
No. 3 Texas (41-4, 11-0 Big 12) jumped into the top five after sitting at No. 6 in last week's poll. The only undefeated team remaining in the Big 12, the remainder of the Longhorns conference schedule consists of all top-25 teams.
No. 6 Alabama (42-7, 16-6 SEC), the only other team this season to receive unanimous first-place voting, fell out of the top five for the first time all season. Alabama posted a 1-2 record to No. 7 Florida (30-8, 15-7 SEC), both games lost in the bottom of the inning. Florida was previously ranked ninth.
The top 25 teams remained the same with No. 24 ULL (38-9, 13-5 Sun Belt) making the biggest fall from 17 after a 2-3 weekend which included a three-game sweep by conference opponent Florida Atlantic.
For the second time this season, Arizona State is the top softball team in all the land, according to the latest edition of the USA Today NFCA Division I Top 25 poll that was released on Tuesday by the Association.
The Sun Devils (42-5) used a sweep of then-seventh-ranked Arizona on the road for the first-time in program history to garner 27 of 30 first-place votes and finish 39 points ahead of last week's No. 1, Michigan (42-4). The Wolverines, meanwhile, dropped to second after sweeping Penn State and splitting with Iowa last week. Despite their loss, Michigan still received the other three first-place votes.
Moving up two spots this week to third was Texas (41-4), which after sweeping Texas Tech this weekend has now won 25 of its last 26 games. Georgia (40-7) dropped one spot to fourth in the new poll after a loss to Arkansas, while Florida (40-8) moved back into the top five at fifth for the first time since March after going 2-1 against then fourth-ranked Alabama (42-7).
For only the second time this season, no teams exited or entered the weekly rankings. No. 25 Auburn (34-14) held onto the final spot this week by edging Fresno State (29-11) by only four points. Additionally, 10 other teams received at least one point in this week's rankings including newcomers Florida Atlantic (30-22), Illinois State (30-14) Indiana (30-15) and Jacksonville (35-14).
