BATON ROUGE — After moving up to No. 13 in the ESPN/USA Softball poll on Tuesday, the LSU softball team moved up to No. 13 in the NFCA/USA Today Coaches poll this week.
The Tigers (21-3) have tied their best start to a season in school history, matching the 1998 and 2004 teams through 24 games. LSU opens Southeastern Conference play this weekend at Ole Miss. The Tigers have won five league titles in the nine-year history of the conference.
LSU moved up six places in the poll after coming in at No. 19 last week. The Tigers entered the poll at No. 25 three weeks ago after receiving votes in the preseason poll and have now been ranked for four consecutive weeks and 109 weeks of the 130 weeks overall in the history of the program.
LSU’s three losses on the season come to teams with a combined ranking of No. 17 and an average ranking less than No. 6 — No. 4 UCLA, No. 5 Stanford and No. 8 Oregon State. The Tigers have also posted a pair of wins over a pair of nationally ranked teams, No. 14 Oklahoma and No. 17 Washington.
LSU is one of six SEC teams ranked in the poll. Along with the Tigers, Tennessee is ranked No. 3, Alabama is No. 6, Georgia is No. 12, Auburn is No. 19 and Mississippi State is No. 23.
NFCA/USA Today Coaches Poll
No. School Record Pts.
1. Arizona (29) 20-1 748
2. Texas 24-1 715
3. Tennessee (1) 13-0 693
4. UCLA 19-1 664
5. Stanford 17-4 586
6. Alabama 15-3 584
7. California 12-2 577
8. Oregon State 18-2 551
9. Michigan 11-5 486
10. UL-Lafayette 13-0 460
11. Arizona State 21-1 435
12. Georgia 17-5 393
13. LSU 21-3 362
14. Oklahoma 15-6-1 348
15. Nebraska 12-2 297
16. Northwestern 10-6 288
17. Washington 15-6 271
18. Baylor 16-6 248
19. Auburn 15-4 243
20. Texas A&M 14-8 224
21. Louisville 12-2 140
22. DePaul 7-2 111
23. Mississippi State 18-3 64
24. Oregon 12-9 60
25. North Carolina 14-4 52
Others receiving votes: Florida 44, BYU 28, Virginia Tech 25, Houston 16, Fresno State 14, Iowa 7, San Diego State 7, Southern Illinois 3. Three others received votes but appeared on only one ballot.