4-26-2011 ASU Top Team in Division 1

After Historic Weekend, Arizona State is Top Team In Nation

OKLAHOMA CITY – 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 5 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 5 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.

ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25

April 26 – April 18-24, 2011 – Week 11

Parenthesis denotes first place votes.

Dropped Out:  None
New to Poll: None

Others receiving votes:  Indiana (15); Maryland (15); Houston (7); BYU (4); Iowa (4); Auburn (3); New Mexico State (3); Texas Tech (3); Tulsa (2); Louisville (1); San Diego State (1)