BATON ROUGE — After coming in at No. 6 in the ESPN/USA Softball poll on Tuesday, the LSU softball team moved up one spot to No. 7 in the in the NFCA/USA Today poll, it was announced on Wednesday.
After beginning the year at No. 9 in the preseason NFCA poll, LSU (19-1) jumped one place last week to No. 8 and now sits at No. 7, its highest ranking in this poll since the 2005 preseason poll when the Tigers were ranked No. 5. LSU is now off to its best start in school history and is currently riding an eight-game winning streak after having an 11-game winning streak to start the year.
Yesterday, the Tigers swept a doubleheader from Alcorn State, 14-3 in five innings, and 12-0 in five innings, at Tiger Park. Last week, LSU won the Easton Purple & Gold Challenge in convincing fashion, winning all six games, with five by way of the run rule.
LSU has now been ranked for 18 straight weeks after having their streak of 103 consecutive weeks snapped on March 30, 2005, a streak that dated back to Feb. 28, 1998. In all, LSU has been ranked in 122 of the 143 polls (.853) that have been released since the program was reinstated in 1997. The Tigers have been ranked in the top 10 for 77 weeks in the program’s history.
The top two spots remained the same as SEC rival Tennessee sits at No. 1 and Arizona State stays at No. 2. Arizona jumped back up to No. 3, while Texas A&M fell one spot to No. 4. SEC rival Alabama comes in at No. 5, followed by Oklahoma at No. 6. Rounding out the Top 10 are Northwestern, Stanford and Texas.
The Pac-10 still leads the way with all eight teams ranked in the top 25, followed by the SEC and Big 12 with five ranked teams. Among the five SEC teams in the top 25, three are in the top 10, including Tennessee, Alabama and LSU. Florida comes in at No. 17 and Georgia is ranked 21st.
The NFCA/USA Today poll is voted on by NCAA Division I head coaches representing each conference.
NFCA/USA Today Coaches Poll
Rank School Record Pts. Pvs.
1. Tennessee (30) 15-0 750 1
2. Arizona State 17-1 709 2
3. Arizona 11-3 675 4
4. Texas A&M 13-2 657 3
5. Alabama 16-0 642 5
6. Oklahoma 16-0 569 9
7. LSU 17-1 553 8
8. Northwestern 10-5 548 7
9. Stanford 14-2 476 11
10. Texas 12-3 470 10
11. Oregon State 8-5 451 6
12. UCLA 10-5 429 12
13. Michigan 14-1 427 13
14. UL-Lafayette 18-2 356 14
15. Washington 12-2 333 15
16. Baylor 15-4 269 17
17. Florida 14-5 203 19
18. California 10-6 198 16
19. Florida State 11-3 162 20
20. Southern Illinois 12-3 145 24
21. Georgia 11-6 139 18
22. Oregon 15-1 109 NR
23. Nebraska 7-5 102 21
24. Georgia Tech 12-2 100 NR
25. Hawaii 12-2 65 NR
Others Receiving Votes:
N.C. State 64, Fresno State 45, Illinois State 34, South Florida 31, Massachusetts 18, Cal State Fullerton 5, Virginia Tech 2. Four Others Received One Vote Each.