Duck Softball Jumps in USA Softball Poll to No. 17
EUGENE – Tied for first in the Pacific-10 Conference again this week, the University of Oregon softball team (29-6, 5-1) jumped four spots in this week’s ESPN.com / USA Softball Poll after its first ever series sweep of then-No. 13 California last week at home.
UO’s 173 votes in this week’s ninth edition were 82 more than last week and the fifth straight poll that it ranked top 25.
Tuesday’s ranking was its highest since ending the 2007 campaign when it ranked 16th in late April heading into its series vs. then-No. 12 UCLA and then-No. 11 Washington – the same season the Ducks climbed as high as 10th nationally.
In recent weeks, Oregon stood 21st the past two weeks, 25th in the fifth and sixth editions, and received votes in three other USA Softball polls – the preseason, third (3/1) and fourth (3/8) week editions.
In the USA Today / NFCA poll, UO made its first appearance at 23rd with 91 points after it received votes the previous four weeks and stood just outside the top 25.
Seven Pac-10 teams were again tabbed top 20 this week in the USA Softball / NFCA editions - Washington (1/1), Arizona (3/4), Arizona State (6/6), UCLA (8/7), Stanford (10/8) and California (19/16).
Five other teams on UO’s schedule in ’10 received votes this week – No. 21/22 Texas A&M, No. -/24 Notre Dame, No. 25/- Hawai’i, BYU, San Diego State – and Fresno State and Texas Tech were recently sighted in prior editions.
Complete NFCA and USA Softball preseason polls are available below and at the http://nfca.org/top25/index.php?cat_id=1 and http://www.usasoftball.com/news.asp?uid=5398 URL addresses.
Earlier this week, junior first baseman Monique Fuiava was named Pac-10 Softball Player of the Week – UO’s fourth player or pitcher weekly honor in 2010.
In the ninth inning of UO’s 7-6 and 8-6 wins Friday and Sunday, the Las Vegas product smacked a two-run double and two-run homer, respectively, for her team-leading seventh and eighth game-winning RBI’s of the season. In the opener, she connected on a career high and team season high four hits, and had two more in the finale en route to a .500 hitting mark for the series (6-for-12, 1 double, .833 slugging, 1 homer).
Looking ahead to later this week, the Ducks welcome the No. 1 Huskies (33-3, 5-1) to Howe Field in Eugene for single games Friday at 6 p.m., Saturday at 1 p.m. and Sunday at noon.
NATIONAL POLLS (4/13) – Week #9
ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25
http://nfca.org/top25/index.php?cat_id=1
Rk Team Record Totals Prev
*1. Washington (25) 33-3 500 1
2. Michigan 30-5 475 3
*3. Arizona 32-7 453 2
4. Florida 30-4 442 5
5. Alabama 31-9 412 7
*6. Arizona State 35-6 396 10
7. Georgia Tech 35-6 387 6
*8. UCLA 27-9 350 4
9. Oklahoma State 36-7 336 11
*10. Stanford 30-6 322 9
11. Georgia 31-8 300 12
12. Oklahoma 31-9 281 13
13. LSU 32-9 243 14
14. Missouri 27-8 242 8
15. Texas 34-9 225 17
16. Florida State 36-9 182 16
**17. Oregon 28-6 173 21
18. Tennessee 33-8 158 18
*19. California 30-11 157 15
20. Illinois 27-5 116 19
*21. Texas A&M 32-11 108 20
22. UMass 25-7 47 25
23. North Carolina 31-13 45 24
24. Ohio State 22-11 40 22
*25. Hawaii 33-11 31 RV
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).
Dropped Out: Baylor
New to Poll: Hawaii
(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 (30) 33-3 750 1
2 Michigan 30-5 715 2
3 Florida 30-4 674 4
*4 Arizona 32-6 658 3
5 Alabama 31-9 626 6
*6 Arizona St. 35-6 595 9
*7 UCLA 27-9 552 5
*8 Stanford 30-6 541 8
9 Georgia Tech 35-6 475 10
9 Oklahoma State 36-7 475 12
11 Missouri 27-8 458 7
12 Oklahoma 31-9 441 11
13 Georgia 31-8 410 15
14 Texas 34-9 342 16
15 LSU 32-9 329 14
16 Tennessee 33-8 276 17
*16 California 30-11 276 13
18 Illinois 27-5 218 18
19 Florida State 36-8 215 19
20 Ohio State 22-11 159 20
21 Massachusetts 25-7 128 22
*22 Texas A&M 32-11 122 21
**23 Oregon 28-6 91 RV
*24 Notre Dame 29-6 77 T23
25 Louisville 25-12 58 T23
Dropped Out: No. 25 Hawaii
Others Receiving Votes: *Hawaii 50, North Carolina 16, *BYU 9, Hofstra 7, Fordham 4, Chattanooga 1, *San Diego State 1, Arkansas 1
* Denotes Duck opponents in 2010
-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 –
