Softball Maintains Top Five Ranking in Both Polls
2/10/2015 12:00:00 AM | Softball
TUSCALOOSA, Ala . - After a big win over a Top 25 opponent to open the season and an undefeated weekend at the Sand Dollar Classic, Alabama softball remains in the top five in both national polls, ranking third in the USA Today/NFCA poll and fourth in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll.
The top four in both polls remains unchanged from the preseason, while Kentucky's win over Florida State last weekend allowed the Wildcats to jump the Seminoles to No. 5 in the NFCA rankings, but not in the USA Softball poll. A pair of tough losses for UCLA slid them out of the top 10 in both polls while Georgia moved in to the top 10 in the NFCA poll after being ranked 12th in the preseason.
All nine ranked SEC teams from the preseason remain in the top 25 in this week's polls: Florida (1/1), Alabama (3/4), Kentucky (5/6), Georgia (10/9), Tennessee (11/14), LSU (16/16), Auburn (17/17), Missouri (18/18) and Texas A&M (23/22). South Carolina and Mississippi State are also receiving votes in both polls.
Alabama opened the 2015 season with a big comeback victory at No. 23 South Alabama on Thursday before going undefeated over five games at the Sand Dollar Classic in Gulf Shores. The Tide have now gone undefeated on opening weekend in each of the last five seasons.
Next up, Alabama plays Wednesday night in Birmingham, taking on the Samford Bulldogs at 6 p.m. CT before heading to California for the Stanford Nike Invitational, starting on Friday, Feb. 13. There, the Tide will face Stanford, Cal Poly and Pacific.
