BATON ROUGE — The LSU softball team moved up one spot to fourth in the nation according to the latest USA Today/National Fastpitch Coaches Association Top 25, which was released Wednesday.
The Tigers are back in the No. 4 position, where they began the season. LSU went 2-0 last week with wins over UAB and Long Island in the weather-shortened Purple and Gold Challenge.
UCLA topped the poll for the third straight week while Arizona continued to gain ground from the No. 2 position. Stanford is third and Nebraska, which split two meetings with LSU this season, is tied with the Tigers for fourth.
The Southeastern Conference was once again represented with five teams as Alabama came in 16th while Georgia, Mississippi State and South Carolina registered in at 20th, 23rd and 24th, respectively. Georgia owns the nation’s best record at 24-0.
LSU begins SEC action this weekend with a series against Florida which begins Saturday at 11 a.m. with a doubleheader. The Tigers are the defending conference champions.
USA Today/NFCA Top 25
Rank Team (first place votes) Record Points
1 UCLA (22) 23-2 670
2 Arizona (5) 23-2 652
3 Stanford 18-2 621
t4 LSU 14-5 569
t4 Nebraska 11-5 569
6 California 19-6 513
7 Arizona State 19-4 496
8 Michigan 12-4 484
9 Oklahoma 17-4 457
10 Fresno State 16-5 429
11 Cal State Fullerton 15-9 390
12 Washington 20-7 360
13 Florida Atlantic 19-3 316
14 Oregon State 19-7 313
15 DePaul 7-2 283
16 Alabama 15-9 270
17 Iowa 7-3 242
18 Pacific 11-9 203
19 Louisiana-Lafayette 13-3 189
20 Georgia 24-0 142
21 Texas A&M 16-4 140
22 Florida State 16-7 139
23 Mississippi State 12-7 88
24 South Carolina 13-6 62
25 Wisconsin 9-5 42