Oklahoma City---The top three teams remain the same in this week’s a href="http://www.usasoftball.com/folders.asp?uid=21" target=_blank>ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25l with the University of Tennessee (20-0) claiming the top spot for the third consecutive week after going 5-0 at the Frost Tournament in Chattanooga, Tenn., this past week. Arizona (14-3) remains at No. 2 after sweeping Missouri this past week and Alabama (21-0) held on to the No. 3 spot with a perfect weekend that included two wins over Louisiana Lafayette who was ranked No. 11 in last weeks poll.
Two teams from the Big 12 Conference round out the top five with Texas A&M (19-2) moving up to No. 4 and Oklahoma (23-0) jumping from No. 7 to No. 5 this week.
The Michigan Wolverines (20-1) continue to push their way up the rankings and check in at No. 7 this week after sweeping a two game series at Florida State (12-7) and collecting four shutout victories at the Jacksonville University Tournament over the weekend. Texas (17-3) also continues its rise in the poll moving from No. 10 to No. 8 this week.
LSU (21-3) dropped three spots this week to No. 9 after losing its final two games of the Husky Classic in Seattle, Wash., to the University of Washington (15-2). The wins by Washington were enough to move them into a tie with Northwestern (15-5) for the No. 10 spot this week.
After a rough weekend at the Worth Classic in Fullerton, Calif., Stanford (16-5) dropped out four spots to No. 12 after going 2-3 in tournament play. Oregon State (11-7) also had a tough weekend in Fullerton, losing its final two games to drop to No. 17 this week.
With three wins over Top 20 competition, the Redbirds of Illinois State (15-5) jumped seven spots to No. 18 this week. Illinois State defeated No. 15 UCLA, 2-1, and No. 20 Florida twice by identical scores of 1-0.
After being left out of last week’s poll, DePaul (12-5) and NC State (14-6) rejoined the top 25 this week at No. 21 and No. 25 respectively. Hawaii (16-5), who entered the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 for the first time in history last week, dropped out of this week’s poll. Florida State joins Hawaii among teams receiving votes after losing two games to Michigan and two of three games to ACC rival NC State.
The Pac-10 continues to lead all conferences with eight teams currently ranked in the top 25 with three appearing in the top 10. The Southeastern Conference is second with a total of five teams represented of which three appearing in the top 10. The Big 12 has four teams in the top 25 with three of the four ranked in the top 10. The Big 10, Missouri Valley and Atlantic Coast Conference each have two teams in this week’s top 25.
About ASA
The Amateur Softball Association, founded in 1933, is the National Governing Body of softball in the United States and a member of the United States Olympic Committee. The ASA has become one of the nation’s largest sports organizations and now sanctions competition in every state through a network of 84 local associations. The ASA has grown from a few hundred teams in the early days to over 240,000 teams today, representing a membership of more than three million. For more information on the ASA, visit www.asasoftball.com.
About USA Softball
USA Softball is the brand created, operated and owned by the ASA that links the USA Men’s, Women’s, Junior Boys’ and Junior Girls’ National Team programs together. USA Softball is responsible for training, equipping and promoting these four National Teams to compete in international and domestic competitions. The USA Softball Women’s National Team is one of the only two women’s sports involved in the Olympic movement to capture three consecutive gold medals at the Olympic Games since 1996. The U.S. women have also won eight World Championship titles including the last six consecutive. For more information about USA Softball, please visit www.usasoftball.com.
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