BATON ROUGE–With the release of the pre-season USA Today/NFCA Coaches poll, the LSU softball team has earned a seventh-place ranking to begin the 2000 season.
The Tigers finished last season with a 56-10 record and return all nine starters from last year’s team, including first team All-American Ashlee Ducote.
LSU will be tested early in its season, playing eight ranked teams before its Southeastern Conference opener. The Tigers will face three teams that are ranked higher, No. 2 Washington, No. 5 Southern Mississippi and No. 6 Michigan in opening tournaments.
“It is a great place to start the season, but the big challenge is to improve on this accomplishment,” said head softball coach Glenn Moore. “We will play three of the six teams ranked above us and eight of the top-25 ranked teams in pre-conference games. We look forward to the challenge.”
The Tigers will begin their season by hosting the Tiger Classic on Feb. 12 and 13 at Tiger Park in Baton Rouge.
The USA Today/National Fastpitch Coaches Association Top 25 is voted on by 27 Division I softball coaches, representing all areas of the USA. First-place votes are in parentheses. Records are from the 1999 season.
Team (First-Place Votes) Points 1999 Record 1. UCLA (25) 673 63-6 2. Washington (1) 638 51-18 3. Fresno St. (1) 602 65-10 4. Arizona 587 53-16 5. Southern Miss. 518 52-9 6. Michigan 475 51-13-1 7. LSU 451 56-10 8. Oklahoma 434 40-16 9. Arizona St. 408 41-29 10. Louisiana-Lafayette 399 54-11 11. Oregon St. 369 47-25 12. California 315 51-22 13. Nebraska 294 35-21 14. DePaul 281 54-14 15. Long Beach St. 280 34-21 16. Massachusetts 230 43-10 17. Michigan St. 217 41-23 18. South Carolina 198 49-21 19. Texas 188 45-17 20. Hawai’I 178 35-23 21. Stanford 158 40-25 22. Illinois-Chicago 149 67-17 23. Central Michigan 116 41-18 24. Missouri 98 41-21 25. Iowa 80 41-26-1
Others Receiving Votes: Cal St. Fullerton (64), Maryland (55), Hofstra (47), Oregon (41), Alabama (35), Pacific (33), Texas Tech (24), Texas A&M (18), Virginia Tech (18), Boston College (16), Minnesota (16), Florida Atlantic (15), South Florida (13), Florida St. (12), Kansas (11), New Mexico (7), Arkansas (5), Mississippi St. (4), Penn St. (3), Cal St. Northridge (1), Notre Dame (1).