4-13-10 USA Softball Weekly D1 Poll

For Immediate Release: 4/13/10

Washington No. 1 but Oklahoma State cracks Top 10 for first time

OKLAHOMA CITY — For the 11th consecutive time, Washington (33-3, 5-1 Pac-10) claimed the No. 1 spot in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 poll announced today by the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) of America. The Huskies have held the top spot since June 9, 2009, just days after winning the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City.

After playing then No. 5 UCLA in the opening weekend of Pac-10 play,  and taking two of three games, the Huskies (33-3, 5-1 Pac-10) were supposed to face their toughest test of the season last week against then No. 2 Arizona (32-7, 2-4 Pac-10). But the Dawgs made easy work of the Wildcats, dropping them to No. 3 in the poll with a three-game sweep, 2-1, 7-0 and 9-3, in Seattle.  The Huskies will now travel down to Eugene to face No. 17 Oregon (28-6, 5-1 Pac-10) in a three-game series starting April 16. The Ducks and Huskies are tied for first place with 5-1 records after Oregon earned a three-game sweep over then No. 15 Cal, now ranked No. 17.

Michigan (30-5, 7-0 Big Ten) improved to No. 2 with two-wins over Indiana, 8-2 and 14-1, and another two over Minnesota, 9-0 and 10-5. Florida (30-4, 12-2 SEC) pulled up No. 4 by sweeping Arkansas while Alabama (31-9, 12-4 SEC) took the No. 5 ranking. The Tide swept home stands with then No. 14 LSU (32-9, 11-5), a team that still moved up to No. 13, and Northwestern.  Arizona State (25-6, 4-2 Pac-10) crept from No. 10 to No. 6 by sweeping then No. 4 UCLA (27-9, 1-5 Pac-10), now the eighth ranked team. Rounding out the Top 10 are No. 7 Georgia Tech (35-6, 11-1 ACC), No. 9 Oklahoma State (36-7, 7-0 Big 12), in the Top 10 for the first time in the history of the poll, and No. 10 Stanford (30-6, 4-2 Pac-10).  Missouri (27-8, 3-5 Big 12) dropped from No. 8 to No. 14 after two losses to now No. 15 Texas (34-9, 7-1 Big 12). Dropping out of the Top 25 completely was Baylor (22-14, 3-4 Big 12), following a loss to Texas Tech, two to North Texas and another to Kansas.

ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25

April 13 – Week of April 5 –  April 11

Parenthesis Denotes first place votes.

Dropped Out: Baylor
New to Poll: Hawaii

Others receiving votes:  Notre Dame (17), San Diego State (17), BYU (14), DePaul (8), Hofstra (7), Louisville (6), Fordham (5), Baylor (2), Arkansas (1), Chattanooga (1) and Kentucky (1).