Ducks Climb to No. 8 and No. 9 in National Polls #4
EUGENE – Riding a 12-game win streak, the University of Oregon softball team (19-3) improved in both national polls in Tuesday’s fourth edition of the regular season.
The Ducks climbed four spots in the USA Softball edition to No. 8 and one spot in the NFCA version to No. 9.
No. 8/9 UO was one of four top-10 ranked teams in the Pac-12 this week by USA SB/NFCA with a pair of fellow WCWS returnees - No. 3/3 Arizona State and No. 6/6 California - and No. 9/11 UCLA.
Overall, Oregon was one of eight league members that were ranked top 25 nationally this week by USA SB/NFCA with No. 16/19 Washington, No. 19/18 Stanford, No. 20/16 Arizona and No. -/23 Oregon State.
For comparison's sake, a complete list of Pac-12 rankings from the previous edition follows: No. 3/3 Arizona State, No. 7/8 California, No. 12/10 Oregon, No. 10/11 UCLA, No. 18/19 Washington, No. 21/17 Arizona and No. 24/- Oregon State.
Six other Duck non-conference foes in 2013 were also tabbed top 25 this week by USA SB/NFCA – No. 1/2 Oklahoma, No. 4/4 Florida, No. 12/12 LSU, No. 14/14 Michigan, No. 24/21 Hawai’i and No. 22/- Nebraska. One other foe – Long Beach State – also picked up votes.
Overall in the top five, the top four teams stayed the same - No. 1/2 Alabama, No. 2/1 Oklahoma. No. 3/3 Arizona State and No. 4/4 Florida. Texas A&M remained No. 5 in the USA Softball edition, and Missouri climbed a spot to No. 5 in the NFCA version.
Oregon has now been ranked for 45 straight editions by USA Softball and 40 straight polls by the NFCA. UO's week-by-week USA SB/ NFCA rankings in that stretch follow: 2013 – Preseason 6/5, 2/12 9/7, 2/19 11/9, 2/26 12/10, 3/5 8/9. 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; 5/16 12/12; 6/12 5/5. 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/folders.asp?uid=6632 and https://nfca.org/index.php/component/nfca/?top25=1&list=1&year=2012&pdiv=div1 URL addresses.
Last weekend in the Citrus Classic, Oregon staked its second straight perfect tourney mark (and sixth overall under fourth-year head coach Mike White).
UO’s six wins included convincing victories over No. 11 LSU (10-2 (5 innings)) and No. 14 Michigan (13-4 (6)) and NCAA tournament returnee Long Island (8-1). Oregon also beat Boston College (8-0 (6), Temple (11-4) and James Madison (12-1) – and the latter received votes in last week’s poll.
This week, the Ducks look ahead to four games in the Fresno State Classic, March 8-9.
UO first faces San Diego State and Fresno State on Friday at 1:30 and 6 p.m., and Iowa State and St. Mary's on Saturday at 9 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
Next week, Oregon opens its home slate with a doubleheader vs. New Mexico on Wednesday, March 13 at 2 p.m.
NATIONAL POLLS #4 (3/5)
ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25
http://www.usasoftball.com/folders.asp?uid=7248
Rk Team Record Totals Prev
*1. Oklahoma (10) 18-1 489 1
2. Alabama (10) 22-0 487 2
*3. Arizona State 21-1 445 3
*4. Florida 22-1 439 4
5. Texas A&M 22-1 406 5
*6. California 15-2 404 7
7. Missouri 9-1 365 6
>8. Oregon 19-3 343 12
*9. UCLA 18-2 332 10
10. Tennessee 19-3 328 9
11. Texas 19-3 312 8
12. LSU 17-4 270 11
13. Louisville 16-3 237 16
*14. Michigan 13-5 231 14
15. Kentucky 16-3 224 17
*16. Washington 14-5 176 18
17. Baylor 19-3 168 20
18. Louisiana-Lafayette 15-5 164 13
*19. Stanford 17-5 163 15
*20. Arizona 15-5 121 21
21. Tulsa 15-5 97 19
*22. Nebraska 14-5 92 25
23. Virginia Tech 12-1 57 23
*24. Hawaii 12-6 43 22
25. North Carolina 15-6 38 RV
Others Receiving Votes: Iowa (18), Georgia (13), *Oregon State (12), South Alabama (10), Notre Dame (4), Mississippi State (4), SC Upstate (3), Florida State (2), South Florida (2), *Long Beach State (1)
Dropped Out: Georgia
New to Poll: North Carolina
Parenthesis denotes first place votes.
* Denotes Duck opponents in 2013
USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Poll
https://nfca.org/index.php/polls
Rk Team Record Totals Prev
1 Alabama (27) 22-0 771 1
*2 Oklahoma (4) 18-1 742 2
*3 Arizona State 21-1 709 3
*4 Florida 22-1 689 4
5 Missouri 9-1 613 6
*6 California 15-2 600 8
7 Texas A&M 22-1 562 9
8 Tennessee 19-3 556 7
>9 Oregon 19-3 548 10
10 Texas 19-3 542 5
*11 UCLA 18-2 460 12
*12 LSU 17-4 429 11
13 Louisville 16-3 391 15
*14 Michigan 13-5 340 14
15 Louisiana Lafayette 15-5 313 13
*16 Arizona 15-5 298 17
17 Kentucky 16-3 285 19
*18 Stanford 17-5 258 16
*19 Washington 14-5 227 18
20 Baylor 19-3 203 22
*21 Hawai'i 12-6 160 20
22 Tulsa 15-5 134 21
*23 Oregon State 17-4 100 24
24 Georgia 12-7 52 23
25 North Carolina 15-6 31 RV
Others Receiving Votes: *Nebraska (24), South Alabama (15), Mississippi
State (6), Florida State (4), Pacific (4), Virginia Tech (4), Iowa (2),
Notre Dame (2), USF (1).
Dropped Out: #25 Florida State (13-8)
Parenthesis denotes first place votes.
-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 2013
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