BATON ROUGE — After coming in at No. 9 in the ESPN/USA Softball poll on Tuesday, the LSU softball team dropped three spots to No. 10 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 (21-3) had moved up as high as No. 7 last week before falling to No. 10 this week. LSU is tied for the best start in school history, matching the 21-3 start to both the 1998 and 2006 seasons.
Last week, the Tigers swept a doubleheader from Alcorn State, dominating the Lady Braves, -3 and 12-0 in a pair of run-rule wins. LSU then earned two shutout wins over Portland State, 7-0 and 8-0 in five innings, to start play in the Husky Softball Classic in Seattle. The Tigers then dropped a heartbreaker, 3-1, in nine innings to No. 11 Washington, before falling, 6-3, in the tournament finale to the Huskies.
LSU has now been ranked for 19 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 123 of the 144 polls (.854) that have been released since the program was reinstated in 1997. The Tigers have been ranked in the top 10 for 78 weeks in the program’s history.
SEC rival Tennessee remained the unanimous No. 1, while Arizona moved up to No. 2. Arizona State dropped to the No. 3 spot, while Alabama and Texas A&M are tied for fourth. Rounding out the Top 10 are Oklahoma, Northwestern, Texas, Michigan and the Tigers.
The Pac-10 still leads the way with all eight teams ranked in the top 25, followed by the SEC with five ranked teams and the 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. 19 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) 20-0 750 1
2. Arizona 14-3 685 3
3. Arizona State 21-2 670 2
T-4. Texas A&M 19-2 655 4
T-4. Alabama 21-0 655 5
6. Oklahoma 23-0 615 6
7. Northwestern 15-5 556 8
8. Texas 17-3 511 10
9. Michigan 20-1 478 13
10. LSU 21-3 470 7
11. Washington 15-2 430 15
12. UCLA 15-6 415 12
13. Stanford 16-5 411 9
14. Oregon State 11-7 363 11
15. UL-Lafayette 20-4 334 14
16. Baylor 20-4 327 16
17. Oregon 20-2 234 22
18. Southern Illinois 14-3 190 20
19. Florida 18-8 184 17
20. Georgia Tech 20-3 157 24
21. Georgia 15-8 136 21
22. Illinois State 15-5 124 NR
23. California 13-9 112 18
24. N.C. State 14-6 65 NR
25. Florida State 12-7 44 19
Others Receiving Votes:
Nebraska 40, Fresno State 26, Cal State Fullerton 24, Hawaii 24, DePaul 21, Houston 11, South Florida 8, Virginia Tech 5, UC Santa Barbara 4. Five others received one vote each.