Ducks Check in at No. 15 in NFCA Poll #9
EUGENE – Returning home this weekend for its first Pac-10 series of the season at Howe Field, the University of Oregon softball team (26-6, 1-2) dropped one place in both the NFCA and USA Softball Coaches Polls this week to 15th and 16th, respectively.
Among this week's two polls, nine Duck foes this season ranked top 25 (NFCA / USA SB) - Alabama (1/1), Arizona State (3/3), Washington (7/6), UCLA (6/10), Arizona (8/5), California (12/9), Stanford (13/14), Louisiana-Lafayette (19/19) and Texas A&M (20/20).
Four other Duck opponents – BYU, Hawai’i, Pacific and North Carolina - received votes in at least one poll.
Overall in both editions, Alabama held the top spot for the third straight week. Georgia followed in second place in both; Arizona State climbed a position in each to No. 3 and passed now-No. 4 Michigan; and Texas and Arizona were tabbed fifth by the NFCA and USA Softball, respectively.
Oregon has now been ranked for 21 straight editions by USA Softball and 16 straight polls by the NFCA. UO's week-by-week NFCA/USA SB rankings this year follow: 3/30 (14/15), 3/23 (15/16), 3/16 (16/15), 3/9 (15/14), 3/2 (13/13), 2/22 (13/13), 2/15 (14/14), Preseason (14/14).
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.
In last weekend’s Pac-10 opening action, UO went 1-2 at No. 6 Washington. Oregon’s 8-0 win in the Sunday finale tied the largest win in the series dating back to 1993, and was the Ducks’ fifth victory against a top-20 team this year. On Saturday, Oregon dropped the opening two games in hard-fought 3-2 and 4-2 decisions.
Among last week’s heroes, senior Monique Fuiava
knocked in her seventh game-winning RBI the last 12 games, and made moves up the Duck all-time career lists in doubles (sixth-tie, 34) and homers (seventh-tie, 25). For the series, she hit .444 (2 2B, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 1 BB), and three others hit .400 or better – sophomore Kaylan Howard
(.500, 1 BB), freshman Alexa Peterson
(.444, 1 2B, 2 RBI) and senior Kaitlin Vitek
(.400, 1 2B, 1 RBI).
On the mound last weekend, sophomore Jessica Moore
pitched 11.1 of the team's 18 innings, staked a 0.62 ERA, went 1-1, struck out 10 and walked eight.
Up next, UO welcomes No. 4 Arizona State to Eugene for single contests this week on Friday (6 p.m.), Saturday (3 p.m.) and Sunday (11 a.m.).
Friday’s game is Spring Cleaning Day, and fans that bring new/used items to donate to Goodwill will receive a voucher for free admission to the ASU game on Sat., 4/9
Saturday’s game is a Bi-Mart Family Day ticket special. Fans that show their Bi-Mart card at the ticket window will receive a family rate of $10 for two adults and unlimited number of kids. A ticket from the Duck baseball game vs. Washington the day before (Fri., 4/8) also works for free admission into the Saturday's contest.
Sunday’s promotion is Little League Day as youth that wear their little league or ASA softball jersey to the game will receive free admission. Fans can also pick up a voucher at the ticket window to receive $5 off a reserved ticket for the baseball game that day at 1 pm.
ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25
http://www.usasoftball.com/folders.asp?uid=3208
Rk Team Record Totals Prev
*1. Alabama (20) 37-2 500 1
2. Georgia 33-4 480 2
*3. Arizona State 35-3 441 4
4. Michigan 33-3 434 3
*5. Arizona 32-6 412 7
*6. Washington 27-3 408 6
7. Texas 21-3 393 9
8. Tennessee 29-6 337 10
*9. California 22-6 324 8
*10. UCLA 26-5 304 13
11. Florida 30-7 292 5
12. Missouri 28-5 274 11
13. Nebraska 30-4 244 16
*14 Stanford 24-7 229 12
15. Oklahoma 29-10 216 14
>16. Oregon 29-6 212 15
17. Baylor 28-6 191 17
18. Kentucky 25-7 165 23
*19. ULL 27-5 117 19
*20. Texas A&M 30-8 115 20
21. Oklahoma State 29-9 96 18
22. Auburn 29-7 78 21
23. Georgia Tech 31-6 77 24
24. Texas Tech 36-4 66 22
25. Fresno State 22-8 47 RV
Others Receiving Votes: LSU (12), Notre Dame (11), Louisville (7), UAB (5), East Carolina (4), San Diego State (3), *North Carolina (1), *BYU (1), *Hawaii (1), Long Beach State (1) and Maryland (1).
Dropped Out: Hawaii
New to Poll: Fresno State
Parenthesis denotes first place votes.
* Denotes Duck opponents in 2011
USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Poll
http://nfca.org/top25/index.php?cat_id=1
Rk Team Record Totals Prev
*1 Alabama (29) 37-2 749 1
2 Georgia 32-4 717 2
*3 Arizona State (1) 35-3 664 4
4 Michigan 33-3 654 3
5 Texas 31-3 607 8
*6 UCLA 26-5 592 7
*7 Washington 27-3 575 6
*8 Arizona 32-6 547 9
9 Tennessee 29-6 468 11
10 Florida 30-7 452 5
11 Nebraska 30-4 447 13
*12 California 22-7 423 10
*13 Stanford 24-7 383 12
14 Oklahoma 29-10 350 15
>15 Oregon 29-6 339 14
16 Missouri 28-5 303 16
17 Baylor 28-6 293 17
18 Kentucky 25-7 239 24
*19 La.-Lafayette 27-5 233 18
*20 Texas A&M 30-8 168 21
21 Oklahoma State 29-9 146 19
22 Auburn 29-7 107 22
23 Fresno State 22-8 88 RV
24 Texas Tech 36-4 82 23
25 Georgia Tech 31-6 61 25
Others Receiving Votes: Notre Dame 17, *Hawai‘i 16, LSU 9, Louisville 9, *Pacific (CA) 5, East Carolina 4, Tulsa 2, Long Beach St. 1
Dropped Out: No. 20 Hawai‘i
-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.
* Denotes Duck opponents in 2011
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