BATON ROUGE — After earning a No. 9 preseason ranking in the NFCA/USA Today preseason poll last week, the LSU softball team improved two spots to a No. 7 preseason ranking in the ESPN/USA Softball poll released on Tuesday.
The No. 7 preseason ranking marks the highest preseason ranking for the Tigers in the ESPN/USA Softball poll since its inception on Feb. 25, 2003. LSU bested its previous preseason high of No. 8 for the start of the 2005 season. The best preseason national ranking for the Tigers overall was No. 4 in the NFCA/USA Today poll prior to the start of the 2002 season.
LSU has been ranked in 54 of the 63 (.857) ESPN/USA Softball polls. The Tigers have now been ranked in the top 10 for 24 weeks in the poll’s history. LSU’s highest national ranking in school history was No. 2 in the ESPN/USA Softball poll on two occasions during the 2004 season.
Last season, the Tigers advanced to the NCAA Super Regionals and came one win away from a return trip to the Women’s College World Series, finishing No. 10 in the poll. LSU returns a pair of All-Americans in senior pitcher Emily Turner and senior outfielder Leslie Klein.
Defending national champion Arizona tops the poll with 483 points and 13 first-place votes, edging out Tennessee with 476 points and five first-place votes. The Lady Vols advanced to the semi-finals of the Women’s College World Series last season.
UCLA, under first year head coach Kelly Inouye-Perez, comes in at third, followed by Northwestern and Arizona State. Rounding out the Top 10 are Oregon State, LSU, Alabama, Stanford and California.
The Pac-10 leads the way with seven teams ranked in the top 25, followed by the Big 12 with five and the SEC with four ranked teams. Among the four SEC teams in the top 25, three are in the top 10, including Tennessee, LSU and Alabama. Georgia comes in at No. 12. Auburn and Florida are among the 14 teams receiving votes.
LSU will play 10 of its regular-season games against four teams that are ranked in the Top 25, including six games against two Top 10 opponents. Ranked opponents on the Tigers’ 2007 schedule include No. 2 Tennessee, No. 8 Alabama, No. 11 Washington and No. 12 Georgia. LSU will also play seven games against three teams receiving votes, including Auburn, Florida and Southern Illinois.
The Tigers will open the season on Friday, Feb. 9 against Memphis at Tiger Park in the Tiger Classic at 3:30 p.m. LSU will then take on Centenary, Middle Tennessee and Missouri before beginning bracket play in the three-day tournament.
The ESPN.com/USA Softball poll is voted on by NCAA Division I coaches representing 15 different Amateur Softball Association regions and 11 different collegiate conferences. The poll is also voted on by selected softball media members.
2007 ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 Preseason Poll
Rank
Team
2006 Record
Points
PVS
1.
Arizona (13)
54-11
483
1
2.
Tennessee (5)
61-12
476
4
3.
UCLA (2)
50-9
460
3
4.
Northwestern
50-15
448
2
5.
Arizona State
53-15
414
6
6.
Oregon State
43-16
390
8
7.
LSU
55-14
356
10
8.
Alabama
54-11
343
7
9.
Stanford
42-18
320
11
10.
California
45-14
309
9
11.
Washington
32-23
261
14
12
Georgia
54-15
255
13
13
Michigan
44-15
250
12
14.
Texas A&M
34-19
239
18
15.
Nebraska
44-12
217
15
16.
Oklahoma
40-21-1
183
17
17.
UL-Lafayette
50-12
151
16
T18.
Baylor
38-22
146
21
T18.
Texas
55-9
146
5
20.
Fresno State
37-19
120
23
21.
Louisville
45-11
113
T19
22.
NC State
50-21
84
24
23.
South Florida
50-25
69
25
24.
UMass
41-16
24
RV
25.
Florida State
44-30
49
T19
Parenthesis denotes first place votes
Others Receiving Votes: Auburn (44), Kansas (39),Florida (25), Cal State Fullerton (12), Virginia Tech (10), Georgia Tech (8), San Diego State (6), Notre Dame (5), Iowa (4), Oregon (2), Illinois State (2), Southern Illinois (2), North Carolina (2) and Long Beach State (1).