No. 21 Ducks Continue Ascent in USA Softball Poll
* UO's national stat rankings are available in the PDF link to the right, and updated season/career stats are available above.
EUGENE - Heading into its conference opener this weekend, the No. 21 University of Oregon softball team (24-5) improved four spots in this week's ESPN.com / USA Softball national poll after it raised its win streak to 11 games with a 6-0 mark last week.
UO picked up 74 votes in this week’s seventh edition - the third straight poll that it has been ranked top 25. Oregon's ranking was its highest since ending the 2008 campaign tabbed No. 20 and No. 23 in the NFCA and USA Softball editions.
In recent weeks, the Ducks stood 25th in both the fifth and sixth editions, and received votes in three other USA Softball editions – the preseason, and third (3/1) and fourth (3/8) week polls. UO also received votes in the last two NFCA editions.
Six Pac-10 teams were tabbed top 15 this week in the USA Softball / NFCA rankings - Washington (1/1), Arizona (2/3), UCLA (5/5), Arizona State (10/7), Stanford (11/9) and California (14/14). Seven other teams on UO’s schedule in ’10 were also sighted – No. 18/20 Texas A&M, No. -/24 Notre Dame, No. 25/- BYU, Fresno State, Hawai’i, San Diego State and Texas Tech.
Complete NFCA and USA Softball preseason polls are available at the http://nfca.org/top25/index.php?cat_id=1 and http://www.usasoftball.com/news.asp?uid=5398 URL addresses.
As a team this week, UO ranked second nationally in ERA (1.16) and
seventh nationally in batting (.338). UO’s other top-40 rankings follow:
win-loss percentage (15th, .828), slugging (15th, .536), home runs
(25th, 1.10 per game), doubles per game (1.55 pg) and scoring (41st,
5.55 runs pg).
Individually at the plate, freshman Samantha Pappas ranked eighth
nationally in batting (.488) and top 50 in slugging (15th, .893), home
runs (38th, 0.31 pg) and RBI (1.03 pg), and Allie Burger stood 16th in
batting (.459).
On the mound, freshman Jessica Moore stood 15th in ERA
(0.94), and also top 50 in strikeouts (24th, 10 per 7.0 innings
avg.), hits allowed (4.01 per 7.0 inn. avg.) and walks allowed (50th,
1.73 per 7.00 inn. avg.), and was tied for 19th nationally with junior
Brittany Rumfelt in the saves category (2).
Fans can find the Ducks’ national stat rankings updated every Tuesday on
the NCAA website at the
http://web1.ncaa.org/stats/StatsSrv/ranksummary?sportCode=WSB URL
address.
On Monday, Moore and Pappas were tabbed the Pac-10 Conference Pitcher and Player of the Week after UO scored doubleheader wins last week at home over Idaho State (19-0, 13-0) and Seattle (5-3, 4-0) and at Portland State (3-2, 2-0). The Ducks’ initial run output (19) vs. the Bengals was a new school record by two runs. In the other game vs. ISU, Moore and Samantha Skillingstad combined on a five-inning perfect game – the 18th no-hitter in school history.
Pappas led the team in batting (.615), slugging (1.077), on-base percentage (.684), hits (8), RBI (10), home runs (2), walks (5), total bases (14) and stolen bases (3-for-3), hit her first career grand slam and had a team season high 5 RBI (and the ninth-best total in school history) in the 19-0 win over Idaho State.
Moore went 3-0, averaged more than two strikeouts per inning (29 / 14 innings), and led the team in strikeouts (29 in 14 innings), ERA (0.00) and opposing batting average (.082). She struck out 11 Idaho State batters in four innings – the eighth-best mark in school history - in the 13-0 victory and five-inning perfect game. Earlier in the week, she K’ed eight in her three innings in the 4-0 win over Seattle, and 10 batters in her 3-2 complete game win vs. PSU.
In late February, Burger was accorded similar Pac-10 POW honors after a nearly flawless week at the plate in the Cathedral City Classic in Palm Springs. The Spokane, Wash., native led the Ducks in batting (.800, 8-for-10), hits (8), total bases (8-tied), slugging (.800) and on-base percentage (.818), and knocked in the game-winning RBI in the sixth inning of a win vs. then-No. 19 Texas A&M, and also had an RBI in the win vs. Hawai’i.
This week, the Ducks head to Corvallis and open Pac-10 play with a three-game stand at Oregon State (19-14), Thursday-Saturday, April 1-3. All three games are moved up an hour earlier than originally scheduled with the Thursday and Friday games now set for 3 p.m., and Saturday’s finale now a noon start.
NATIONAL POLLS (3/30) – Week #7
ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25
http://nfca.org/top25/index.php?cat_id=1
Rk Team Record Totals Prev
*1. Washington (25) 28-2 500 1
*2. Arizona 28-3 474 2
3. Michigan 24-5 458 3
4. Missouri 23-4 429 4
*5. UCLA 26-4 423 5
6. Alabama 24-9 355 5
7. Georgia Tech 29-5 352 8
8. Georgia 24-6 336 7
9. Florida 23-4 331 13
*10. Arizona State 31-4 323 11
*11. Stanford 25-5 317 T9
12. LSU 28-4 313 12
13. Oklahoma 27-8 312 T9
*14. California 28-6 241 14
15. Oklahoma State 29-7 212 16
16. Florida State 31-6 188 18
17. Texas 26-8 165 15
18. Texas A&M 29-7 164 17
19. Tennessee 25-7 133 21
20. Illinois 23-4 124 20
**21. Oregon 24-5 74 25
22. North Carolina 24-10 71 19
23. Ohio State 18-10 57 22
24. Baylor 19-10 33 23
*25. BYU 20-7 24 RV
Others receiving votes: *San Diego State (15), DePaul (14), Louisville (14), Fordham (10), *Hawai'i (8), UMass (8), *Notre Dame (4), Tennessee-Martin (4), *Texas Tech (4), ULL (3), Ball State (2), *Fresno State (2), Arkansas (1), Central Florida (1), Hofstra (1).
Dropped Out: Louisville
New to Poll: BYU
(Parenthesis) Denotes first place votes.
* Denotes Duck opponents in 2010
USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Poll
http://www.usasoftball.com/folders.asp?uid=3208
Rk Team (1st Place Vts) Record Totals Prev
*1 Washington (29) 28-2 747 1
2 Michigan 24-5 699 2
*3 Arizona 28-3 691 4
4 Missouri 23-4 643 3
*5 UCLA 26-4 640 5
6 Florida (1) 23-4 601 6
*7 Arizona State 31-4 556 8
8 Alabama 24-9 523 7
*9 Stanford 25-4 514 9
10 Georgia Tech 29-5 458 11
11 Georgia 24-6 433 10
12 LSU 28-4 423 13
13 Oklahoma 27-8 404 12
*14 California 28-6 392 14
15 Oklahoma State 29-7 325 15
16 Tennessee 25-7 266 17
17 Texas 26-8 244 16
18 Illinois 23-4 230 18
19 Florida State 31-6 225 20
*20 Texas A&M 29-7 194 19
21 Ohio State 18-10 113 22
22 North Carolina 24-10 91 21
23 Massachusetts 17-7 86 24
*24 Notre Dame 24-5 42 NR
25 Louisville 21-12 39 23
Others receiving votes: *BYU 34, **Oregon 30, *Hawaii 25, *Texas Tech 16, Fordham 15, Baylor 14, *San Diego St. 12, DePaul 10, Tenn.-Martin 5, Hofstra 2, *Fresno St. 2, Virginia 2, Lipscomb 1, Kentucky 1.
Dropped out: Baylor
-The USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Poll is voted on by NCAA Division I head coaches representing each conference. First-place votes are in parentheses.
- www.GoDucks.com –
