For Immediate Release: 04/06/10
Pac-10 loss not enough to drop Washington from No. 1 spot
OKLAHOMA CITY — It will take more than Danielle Lawrie’s first loss of the season to dethrone Washington. The Huskies, who started their reign on June 9, remain top ranked in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll despite dropping the first game of conference play Thursday.
No. 4 UCLA (27-6, 1-2 Pac-10) handed 2009 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Lawrie her first loss of the season in the teams’ opening game of Pac-10 action. After the 1-0 loss, the Huskies (30-3, 2-1 Pac-10) regrouped for 3-1 and 7-2 victories over UCLA.
Michigan (26-5, 3-0 Big Ten) took one first-place vote after a sweep of Wisconsin but it was not enough to move the Wolverines out of the third spot. Arizona (30-4, 2-1 Pac-10) holds at No. 2 despite being run-ruled by No. 10 Arizona State (32-6, 1-2 Pac-10) for the first time in school history Friday. The Wildcats returned the favorite with a 14-2 run-rule win Saturday.
Rounding out the Top 5 is Florida (27-4, 9-2 SEC), which swept now No. 14 LSU (29-7, 8-3 SEC) over the weekend to improve from last week’s No. 9 spot. Before Washington took over the top spot following the program’s first championship at the Women’s College World Series, Florida had held the No. 1 spot for 10 consecutive weeks. The Gators lost the top spot when they finished second to the Huskies in Oklahoma City.
Other rankings include: Georgia Tech (32-5, 8-1 ACC) at No. 6; Alabama (27-9, 10-4 SEC) at No. 7; and Stanford (27-5, 2-1 Pac-10) at No. 9. Missouri (25-6, 1-3 Big 12) faced one of the biggest drops of the week, settling into the No. 8 position after a weekend sweep from now No. 11 Oklahoma State (32-7, 4-0 Big 12). Georgia also dropped from No. 8 to No. 12 after dropping two to Arkansas.
Match-ups to watch this week include Arizona at Washington, Arizona State at UCLA, Georgia at Georgia Tech; LSU at Alabama; and No. 13 Oklahoma (29-8, 3-1 Big 12) at Oklahoma State.
ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25
April 6 – Week of March 29 – April 4
| Rank | Team | Record | Points | Last Week Ranking |
| 1. | Washington (24) | 30-3 | 499 | 1 |
| 2. | Arizona | 30-4 | 473 | 2 |
| 3. | Michigan (1) | 26-5 | 465 | 3 |
| 4. | UCLA | 27-6 | 430 | 5 |
| 5. | Florida | 27-4 | 396 | 9 |
| 6. | Georgia Tech | 32-5 | 394 | 7 |
| 7. | Alabama | 27-9 | 388 | 6 |
| 8. | Missouri | 25-6 | 354 | 4 |
| 9. | Stanford | 27-5 | 339 | 11 |
| 10. | Arizona State | 32-6 | 295 | 10 |
| 11. | Oklahoma State | 32-7 | 287 | 15 |
| 12. | Georgia | 26-8 | 283 | 8 |
| 13. | Oklahoma | 29-8 | 270 | 13 |
| 14. | LSU | 29-7 | 239 | 12 |
| 15. | California | 29-8 | 231 | 14 |
| 16. | Florida State | 33-7 | 199 | 16 |
| 17. | Texas | 31-8 | 191 | 17 |
| 18. | Tennessee | 29-7 | 159 | 19 |
| 19. | Illinois | 26-4 | 140 | 20 |
| 20. | Texas A&M | 30-9 | 107 | 18 |
| 21. | Oregon | 26-5 | 91 | 21 |
| 22. | Ohio State | 21-10 | 68 | 23 |
| 23. | Baylor | 19-10 | 50 | 24 |
| 24. | North Carolina | 27-13 | 23 | 22 |
| 25. | UMASS | 21-7 | 22 | RV |
Parenthesis Denotes first place votes.
Dropped Out: BYU
New to Poll: UMASS
Others receiving votes: BYU (19), Arkansas (17), Hawaii (17), DePaul (12), Notre Dame (11), Louisville (9), San Diego State (8), Fordham (7), ULL (2), Hofstra (2), Kentucky (2), Texas Tech (1).
