Series Win Helps Alabama Softball Maintain Top-Four National Ranking
4/19/2016 12:00:00 AM | Softball
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Alabama softball's series win on the road over Texas A&M helped the Crimson Tide maintain its No. 4 ranking for the third-straight week in both the USA Today/NFCA poll and the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll, released Tuesday.
Alabama is now 38-8 overall and 10-5 in SEC play. The series win over the 16th-ranked Aggies improved Alabama's record to 11-7 against top-25 opponents, with seven of those 11 wins coming in conference play. This weekend, Alabama welcomes 11th-ranked Kentucky to Rhoads Stadium for a three-game series starting Friday, April 22 at 6:30 p.m. CT. The Wildcats are the highest-ranked home opponent for the Tide so far this season.
Florida, Michigan, Auburn and Alabama remain in the top four spots in both polls, with Louisiana-Lafayette dropping out of the top five after being swept by the Gators in Gainesville. Pac 12 leader Oregon slid into the No. 5 spot left vacant by the Ragin' Cajuns while Georgia fell out of the top 10 in both polls after dropping its weekend series against Tennessee.
Nine SEC schools are represented in the top 25 this week, the most of any conference: Florida (1/1), Auburn (3/3), Alabama (4/4), Kentucky (11/11), Tennessee (12/13), Georgia (13/12), LSU (14/15), Texas A&M (16/17) and Missouri (19/19). Ole Miss is also receiving votes outside the top 25 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll.
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