Ducks Hold Steady at No. 12 & 13 in National Polls
*Updated season/career stats are available via the link above.
EUGENE - Remaining at home for the final week of the regular season, the University of Oregon softball team (37-18, Pac-12: 11-8 (3rd)) continued to validate its place among the nation's top programs in Tuesday's national polls.
Repeating its highest ranking of the regular season in both editions, No. 12 / 13 Oregon climbed three positions the week before in both the USA Softball and NFCA versions. The Ducks' only higher sighting in 2012 was their No. 11 position in the USA Softball preseason edition.
UO was one of seven league members that ranked top 20 nationally this week – including the top two in both polls (No. 1/1 California and No. 2/2 Arizona State) - and an eighth program ranked top 25.
Glancing at this week's polls, 11 Duck foes this season were ranked top 25 (USA Softball/ NFCA), and others included No. 3/3 Alabama, No. 9/10 Missouri, No. 14/15 UCLA, No. 16/17 Arizona, No. 17/15 Stanford, No. 18/18 Washington, No. 21/21 North Carolina, No. 24/- Oregon State and No. -/23 Baylor.
One other Duck opponent – BYU – received votes in the NFCA poll.
Compared to last week, Cal ranked first nationally in both polls for the seventh straight week after it swept then-No. 22 Oregon State in Corvallis (9-1, 4-2, 4-1).
Among other movement in the overall top five:
- No. 2/2 Arizona State held steady after it swept Utah (13-1 (5), 6-4, 13-5 (6)).
- No. 3/3 Alabama moved up a position in the USA Softball version after it went 2-1 vs. Florida (W 9-1 (6), 5-3, L 4-1)
- No. 4/4 Oklahoma fell one position in the USA Softball edition after it went 2-1 vs. Texas (W 5-2 (8), 9-3; L 12-5)
- No. 5/5 Tennessee jumped two spots in the NFCA poll after it swept Ole Miss (5-1, 9-0 (5), 2-1) and beat Tennessee State (5-0).
For comparison's sake, a complete list of the Pac-12's teams rankings from last week follows: No. 1/1 California, No. 2/2 Arizona State, No. 13/15 Arizona, No. 15/14 Washington, No. 17/17 UCLA, No. 21/19 Stanford and No. 22/- Oregon State.
Oregon has now been ranked for 40 straight editions by USA Softball and 33 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; 5/2 12/13; 5/9 12/13. 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.
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.
This weekend, No. 12 UO welcomes No. 14 UCLA (35-16, 11-10) for the final three games of the regular season, Thursday-Saturday, May 10-12. Thursday's and Friday's games start at 6 p.m., and Saturday's finale starts with a special Senior Day pre-game recognition ceremony at noon.
On Sunday, May 13, the college softball world will tune into ESPN-U at 7 p.m. Pacific Time to watch the NCAA Tournament selection show. More tournament information and the 64-team bracket will be posted online at www.NCAAsports.com.
Last weekend at home, Oregon beat its fourth returnee from last year’s World Series with its 8-3 win over No. 9 Missouri, while the Tigers won the other two games, 5-4 and 7-3. Earlier in the week, Oregon took a doubleheader from Seattle by 9-8 and 8-0 counts. In the first game, UO relied on a five-run seventh-inning comeback, while its five-inning win in the finale was its eighth this year via the regulation-shortened eight-run rule.
For the five-game set, Samantha Pappas led UO in hitting (.643), hits (9), doubles (4), homers (2). Four others topped .300 – Christie Nieto (.429, 6H, 1 HR, 4 RBI), Kailee Cuico (.400, 6H, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 3 BB), Lindsey Chambers (.400, 2H), and Kaylan Howard (.375, 6H, 2 HR, 4 RBI). Alexa Peterson also hit slugged two homers. hit .286, and led the team in RBI (6).
With her 8-3 win Saturday over then-No. 9 Missouri, Jessica Moore picked up her 11th win over a top-25 opponent this year (including four vs. top-10 teams). She pitched 17 of the team's 21 innings vs. Mizzou, staked a 2.88 ERA, struck out 14, and walked six.
Freshman Karissa Hovinga pitched all 12 innings vs. Seattle to notch both wins. She also added a save among her four innings vs. Missouri, and ended with eight strikeouts in her 16 innings on the week.
On all-Duck career charts, Kelsey Chambers jumped to second all-time in homers (35), Pappas moved into a tie for eighth all-time for homers (26) and walks (69), and Moore climbed the appearance list (sixth, 122).
On all-time Oregon season lists, Cuico improved to fourth all-time in RBI (47-tied), and other notable updates came from Howard (extra-base hits, ninth, 23-tied; RBI, 11th, 44-tied), Kelsey Chambers (runs, seventh, 44-tied) and Moore (wins, second, 25; starts, sixth, 35-tied; innings, eighth, 225).
This week Oregon stands third in the Pac-12 with an 11-8 record and is guaranteed of its third-ever repeat +.500 Pac-12 record ever after going 11-10 in 2011 (and likewise in 1993 (8-8) and ’94 (12-12), and 1990 (9-9) and ’89 (13-7)).
UO sits one game ahead of UCLA (fourth-tied, 11-10) and has beaten seven Pac-12 foes for the first time since 2004 and third time ever (including ’04 and ’99 albeit in a 28-game league slate in the latter) since the league expanded to eight teams in 1992.
NATIONAL POLLS (5/9) – Poll #13
ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25
http://www.usasoftball.com/folders.asp?uid=3208
Rk Team Record Totals Prev
* 1. California (20) 48-3 500 1
*2. Arizona State 45-5 479 2
*3. Alabama 47-6 451 4
4. Oklahoma 42-8 443 3
5. Tennessee 45-9 424 5
6. Louisiana-Lafayette 46-3 379 6
7. Florida 44-10 377 7
8. Louisville 50-3 351 8
*9. Missouri 40-12 330 9
10. Texas 41-10 326 10
11. Georgia 40-14 288 11
>12. Oregon 37-14 279 12
13. Hawaii 43-5 268 14
14. Texas A&M 36-16 246 16
*15. UCLA 35-16 224 17
*16. Arizona 33-16 211 13
*17. Stanford 36-16 169 21
*18. Washington 36-17 137 15
19. Florida State 45-13 115 19
20. South Florida 45-10 111 18
*21. North Carolina 40-12 106 20
22. Texas Tech 39-15 58 23
23. Michigan 36-15 57 25
*24. Oregon State 33-19 53 22
25. Syracuse 40-13 43 RV
Others Receiving Votes: Tulsa (26); *Baylor (11); Kentucky (8); UMASS (7); Notre Dame (6); LSU (4); Georgia Tech (4); UAB (4); Virginia Tech (2); SC Upstate (2); Maryland (1)
Dropped Out: - LSU (24)
New to Poll: - Syracuse (RV)
* Denotes Duck opponents in 2012
Parenthesis denotes first place votes.
USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Poll
http://nfca.org/top25/index.php?cat_id=1
Rk Team Record Totals Prev
* 1 California (30) 48-3 750 1
*2 Arizona St. 45-5 718 2
*3 Alabama 47-6 689 3
4 Oklahoma 42-8 663 4
5 Tennessee 45-9 602 7
6 La.-Lafayette 46-3 592 5
7 Florida 44-10 580 6
8 Texas 41-10 534 8
9 Louisville 50-3 503 9
*10 Missouri 40-12 455 10
11 Hawai‘i 43-5 447 12
11 Georgia 40-14 447 11
>13 Oregon 37-14 402 13
*14 UCLA 35-16 359 17
*15 Stanford 36-16 311 19
16 Texas A&M 36-16 301 18
*17 Arizona 33-16 273 15
*18 Washington 36-17 232 14
19 South Florida 45-10 221 16
20 Florida St. 45-13 157 20
*21 North Carolina 40-12 148 21
22 Michigan 36-15 139 23
23 Baylor 33-19 61 25
24 Syracuse 40-13 54 RV
25 Texas Tech 39-15 36 24
Others Receiving Votes: LSU 23, Massachusetts 15, Tulsa 13, *BYU 7, Notre Dame 7, Kentucky 4; three others received votes, but only appeared on one ballot.
Dropped Out: No. 22 LSU
-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
- www.GoDucks.com -
