Alabama Softball Heads Into April Ranked No. 9 in National Polls
3/28/2017 1:05:00 PM | Softball
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – With the first half of the regular season now passed, Alabama softball heads into the month of April ranked No. 9 in both the USA Today/NFCA poll and the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll, released Tuesday.
Last week, Alabama took two of its three games against South Carolina to win the series and move to 30-4 overall and 7-2 in conference play. Through three weeks of SEC competition, the Crimson Tide and Texas A&M are tied for second, just one game back in the loss column from Florida at 7-1.
In the USA Softball poll, undefeated Oregon jumped to No. 1 for the first time this season with Florida and Florida State sliding down to No. 2 and 3, respectively. Florida State, Florida and Oregon remain in the top three spots in this week's NFCA poll, with Arizona jumping Auburn to move to No. 4 after a weekend sweep over previously sixth-ranked Washington, who now sits at No. 8. LSU is the only new team in the top 10 this week, switching spots with 11th-ranked James Madison in both polls.
Alabama fell to No. 7 in this week's NCAA Rating Percentage Index (RPI), released Monday. The rankings take a team's win-loss record into account as well as its strength of schedule. The RPI rankings play a large role in the eventual seeding for the NCAA Tournament.
Alabama is one of 10 SEC schools ranked in this week's top 25. Twelve of the 13 SEC teams are either ranked or receiving votes in at least one poll this week. Ranked SEC teams include Florida (2/2), Auburn (5/7), Texas A&M (7/5), Alabama (9/9), LSU (10/10), Kentucky (16/T16), Georgia (18/T16), Tennessee (19/19), Arkansas (23/24) and Ole Miss (24/RV). Missouri and South Carolina are receiving votes outside the top 25.
This weekend, Alabama continues SEC play on the road with a three-game series at Missouri (18-13, 1-4 SEC), starting Friday, March 31 at 6:30 p.m. CT. Game two, set for a 5 p.m. CT start on Saturday, April 1, will be broadcast live on SEC Network.
For the latest information on Alabama softball, follow the team on Twitter (@AlabamaSB) and Instagram (BamaSB) or like us on Facebook at Alabama Softball. General athletic news can be found @UA_Athletics on Twitter and Instagram and Alabama Athletics on Facebook.
