Ducks Tabbed Top 15 for Seventh Time in 2012
* Updated season/career stats are available via the link above.
EUGENE – Looking ahead to its final road trip of the regular season to Tucson, the University of Oregon softball team (32-11, 9-7) was tabbed No. 15 and No. 16, respectively, in this week’s ESPN.com-USA Softball and NFCA-USA Today editions.
This week, No. 15/16 UO moved up two spots in the NFCA poll and down one in the USA Softball version, and was one of seven league members that ranked top 20 nationally this week, and an eighth program (No. 23 OSU) made its fourth appearance in the NFCA top 25.
The Pac-12 continues to confirm its reputation as the Conference of Champions with three teams appearing in the top 12 in one or both USA SB /NFCA national polls for the eighth straight week - No. 1/1 California, No. 2/3 Arizona State and No. 13/11 Washington.
Eleven of the Ducks’ foes this season were ranked top 25 on Tuesday (USA Softball/ NFCA) – No. 1/1 California, No. 2/3 Arizona State, No. 3/4 Alabama, No. 10/10 Missouri, No. 11/13 Arizona, No. 13/11 Washington, No. 14/15 UCLA, No. 20/19 Stanford, No. 19/20 North Carolina, No. 23/- Oregon State and No. -/25 Baylor.
One other Duck opponent – Fresno State - received votes in at least one poll.
Compared to last week, Cal ranked first nationally in both versions for the fifth straight week. No. 2/3 Arizona State improved a position after it swept Stanford, 3-0. No. 4/2 Florida improved a spot in the latter poll after it swept Florida International, 3-0. No. 3/4 Alabama dropped one and two spots, respectively, after it lost to Georgia State and went 2-1 at Georgia. No. 5 Oklahoma stood top five in both polls for the first time after it went 2-1 with Missouri and beat North Texas once.
For comparison's sake, a complete list of the Pac-12's teams rankings from last week follows: No. 1/1 California, No. 3/4 Arizona State, No. 11/9 Washington, No. 12/13 Arizona, No. 15/15 UCLA, No. 19/16 Stanford and 24/- Oregon State.
Oregon has now been ranked for 38 straight editions by USA Softball and 31 straight polls by the NFCA. UO's week-by-week USA SB/ NFCA rankings in that stretch follow: 2012 - Preseason 11th/16th, 2/14 19/19, 2/21 21/19, 2/28 18/18, 3/6 15/18; 3/13 14/17; 3/20 15/17; 3/27 16/17; 4/3 17/18; 4/10 15/19; 4/17 14/18; 4/25 15/16. 2011 - Preseason 14th/14th, 2/15 14th/14th, 2/22 13th/13th, 3/2 13th/13th, 3/9 15th/14th, 3/16 16th/15th, 3/23 15th/16th, 3/30 14th/15th, 4/5 15th/16th, 4/12 17th/17th, 4/19 19th/21th, 4/26 16th/19th, 5/3 12th/17th, 5/10 11th/14th, 5/17 11th/12th, 6/15 14th/15th. 2010 - 3/8 25th/-; 3/15 25th/-; 3/22 21st/-; 3/29 21st/ RV; 4/5 17th/ RV; 4/12 17th/23rd; 4/19 18th/20th; 4/26 19th/20th; 5/3 20th/22nd; 5/5 20th/22nd; 5/10 21st-t/22nd; 6/15 14th/14th.
In January's preseason national polls, UO was tabbed No. 11 by USA Softball and No. 16 by NFCA - both program bests, respectively. The Pac-12 was again the nation’s top league and featured seven teams ranked top 13 nationally - No. 1 ASU (last year's national champion), No. 3 California, No. 8 Arizona, No. 9 Stanford, No. 11 Oregon, No. 12 Washington and No. 13 UCLA.
More information on the USA Softball and NFCA polls are available at the http://www.usasoftball.com/news.asp?uid=5398 and http://nfca.org/top25/index.php?cat_id=1 URL addresses.
Last week, the Ducks became only the third team in 2012 to beat No. 1 California with its 1-0 win Saturday. In other contests, a pair of Duck errors led to six unearned runs in Friday’s 8-1 loss, while the returning World Series advancer took the series with a 10-0 win Sunday.
Earlier in the week, the Ducks raised their record to 14-8 against returning NCAA tourney qualifiers with a doubleheader sweep of Portland State (10-4 / 1-0).
Among notable individual efforts, junior Jessica Moore became the first pitcher this season to shutout the Bears in the Duck victory, struck out eight, walked only one, and allowed only four hits. Freshman Karissa Hovinga staked both wins vs. the Vikings and struck out six, and walked three in her 12 innings.
At the plate, junior left fielder Allie Burger hit .750 (3-for-4) in her two games, and two others topped .300 - junior second baseman Kaylan Howard (.500, 7H, 2 2B, 2 RBI), and sophomore catcher Alexa Peterson (.333, 4H, 1 HR, 2 RBI).
Tied for third in the nation’s top softball league again this week, the Ducks play single games each day at No. 11 Arizona (31-12, 8-7) and start times for each day follow: Fri. (4/27 – 7 p.m.); Sat. (4/28 - 7 p.m.); Sun. (4/29 – 11 a.m.). Live stats will be available at the www.ArizonaAthletics.com website.
NATIONAL POLLS (4/24) – Poll #10
ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25
http://www.usasoftball.com/folders.asp?uid=3208
Rk Team Record Totals Prev
*1. California (18) 42-3 498 1
*2. Arizona State (2) 39-5 478 3
*3. Alabama 42-4 454 2
4. Florida 41-5 442 4
5. Oklahoma 38-7 419 5
6. Tennessee 40-9 395 7
7. Louisiana-Lafayette 41-2 378 8
8. Texas 37-7 357 6
9. Louisville 43-2 338 9
*10. Missouri 34-10 309 10
*11. Arizona 31-12 298 12
12. Georgia 35-12 274 13
*13. Washington 36-11 244 11
*14. UCLA 33-12 239 15
>15. Oregon 32-11 236 14
16. Texas A&M 31-14 197 16
17. Hawaii 37-5 176 18
18. South Florida 40-8 159 17
*19. North Carolina 36-10 130 21
20. Florida State 42-11 105 22
*21. Stanford 32-16 85 19
22. Michigan 32-13 74 20
*23. Oregon State 29-15 72 24
24. Texas Tech 37-13 55 25
25. LSU 32-15 42 23
Others receiving votes: Syracuse (15); *Fresno State (9); Tulsa (9); *Baylor (7); Virginia Tech (3); Georgia Tech (2); UAB (1)
Parenthesis denotes first place votes.
* Denotes Duck opponents in 2012
USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Poll
http://nfca.org/top25/index.php?cat_id=1
Rk Team Record Totals Prev
*1 California (29) 42-3 748 1
2 Florida (1) 41-5 702 3
*3 Arizona St. 39-5 690 4
*4 Alabama 42-4 669 2
5 Oklahoma 38-7 629 6
6 La.-Lafayette 41-2 583 7
7 Tennessee 40-9 557 8
7 Texas 37-7 557 5
9 Louisville 43-2 498 11
*10 Missouri 34-10 470 10
*11 Washington 36-11 431 9
12 Georgia 35-12 420 12
*13 Arizona 31-12 403 13
14 Hawai‘i 37-5 363 14
*15 UCLA 33-12 358 15
>16 Oregon 31-11 291 18
17 USF 40-8 238 17
18 Texas A&M 31-14 230 19
*19 Stanford 32-12 218 16
*20 North Carolina 36-10 194 21
21 Florida St. 42-11 154 22
22 Michigan 32-13 119 20
23 LSU 32-15 69 23
24 Texas Tech 37-13 67 24
25 Baylor 28-16 40 25
Others Receiving Votes: *Oregon St. 25, Tulsa 15, Syracuse 11
Dropped Out: None
-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 2012
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